Friday, August 07, 2015

Prayers for Ángel Ariel Escalante Pérez

This is one of the saddest things I've come across recently. 12-year-old boy Ángel Ariel Escalante Pérez was thrown off a bridge in Guatemala by a gang. The gang wanted him to shoot a stranger but he refused. He was then given a choice of being thrown off a bridge or hacked to death by a machete. He chose the former.

As if that wasn't horrific enough, Ángel somehow survived the fall. Unfortunately, he was too injured to move so he lay hidden underneath thick foliage for three days before his father and their family and friends found him. He stayed alive for 15 more days before he finally succumbed to his injuries and passed away.

Read more about this heartbreaking story here.

I haven't been disturbed and saddened by a story about someone I don't personally know since maybe typhoon Yolanda hit Visayas a couple of years ago. Just the through of the terror that a young boy would go through when asked to kill someone, then to be given a choice of how to be killed, then to be thrown off a bridge, then to lie injured and alone for three days before being found. I think the only possibly good thing about this is that at least he got to see his father and family before he died.

I have been praying for Ángel and his family since I learned about this. I hope you can spare a thought or prayer for him too.

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