HARLINGEN — He was a talented basketball player.
He was a skilled auto collision student and a devoted leader in his church.
But most of all, Christopher Angel Perales, 17, was just a great guy to be around.
“He was an amazing young man and he had a personality that was larger than life,” said Clayton Cretors, head varsity basketball coach at Harlingen High School.
Cretors was looking forward to having Chris play as point guard this season, but that shining trajectory was shattered Wednesday night. That’s when a gunman shot Chris to death and wounded his brother Ricky, who is in critical condition at a McAllen hospital. Harlingen police have taken two suspects into custody, but at press time no further information was available.
Just hours after the death of Christopher, an HHS senior, tributes to this popular student and friend began pouring in on multiple Facebook pages.
“Our sincere condolences to the Cardinal family and Perales family fly high card sincerely all of Cardinal Cafeteria Staff,” read a comment on the Harlingen Cardinal Volleyball page.
“Our girls lost a peer and a dear friend … Rest In Peace sweet boy,” read a message on the Harlingen Lady Cardinals Softball Booster Club.
Only an hour before Chris’s death, he’d been playing basketball at the Main Unit of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Harlingen. The following night, more than 200 friends, teammates, teachers and relatives gathered on the outside basketball court at the Main for a vigil. They remembered a friend, a student, a player, a mentor and a technician in training eager to continue his education after high school.
His teammates, tall, strong and proud, now bore their grief on their faces.
“Chris was a good role model to everyone—“ said Jayden Rendon, a junior, his voice cutting in mid sentence for just a moment. His towering figure now teetered with agony as he looked up, his eyes seething with pain.
And then, “— to everyone in the basketball community. He was like a brother to me, man.” Then, going into a deeper place, said, “I love you, dog. I miss you bro.”
He now passed the torch to teammate Jonathan Salinas.
“I just want everybody to know that Chris was the most fearless person I ever met,” said Jonathan, a senior. “He took on every challenge like it was his last. He never gave up, and he made sure that everybody around him was the best person ever.”
Now teammate Ryan Sanchez spoke.
“Chris was like an older brother to me,” said Ryan, a junior, his slim frame leaning forward.
“He was—“ a brief hesitance as he struggled with the right words, “like a leader to all of us. He — he pushed us every day.” His voice rose in pitch now. “He was one of the most hardworking guys I’ve known.”
He looked away now, unable to speak further.
Music of hope and consolation filled the court as people spoke of the young man who’d impacted so many people with his creativity, optimism and passion for life.
“Now what I’d give for one more day with you, ‘Cause there’s a wound here in my heart where something’s missing,” sang Casting Crown for the song “Scars in Heaven.”
There were no scars here, only gaping and jagged wounds of family and friends stunned by their loss.
Chris’s brother Nathaniel never thought he’d be speaking in front of people about his brother’s death.
“My brother was an amazing person, always looking out for others, always positive,” he said. “He never focused on anything bad. He always looked up, always faced forward, passionate about everything he did. He was the light of the room. Once my brother walked in, you knew who he was.”
Throughout the basketball court voices and remembrances fractured, split in mid-sentence before regrouping to speak of sparkling remembrances. In moments of coherency before the fragmentation returned, they spoke of a vibrant young spirit always on the move, who lit up a room wherever he went.
“I started watching Chris play basketball when he was in first grade because my son was in first grade,” said Kara Smith, now a member of the board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Harlingen.
“What drew me to him was his cute little smirk that he had on his face and how fast he was on his feet,” Smith said. “I’ve enjoyed watching him play ball through the Boys and Girls Club over the years and he’s part of the reason I developed a passion for the Boys and Girls Club. He’s why we do what we do.”
Eliseo Gonzalez, III, pastor at Harlingen Trinity Worship Center, led the crowd in prayer and spoke about the years he’s known Chris, who also knew him as Angel.
“I knew Angel from the time he was around 12 years old,” he said. “We worked with him in ministry in our youth department. He was a very passionate person. Everything he did was with passion, and he did it with his whole heart. He was a good young man with a bright future, and he feared God. He was a young man of faith.”
And now Casting Crowns once again sang the poignant lyrics that everyone felt.
“There’s not a day goes by that I don’t see you, you live on in all the better parts of me.”
No information on funeral services were available at press time.
