OGDEN, Utah — In a month, Leslie Caballero’s son, Mason, should be turning 17. But it’s a birthday that she won’t get to celebrate with him after he was shot and killed in Ogden last October.
"Say I love you every day, because I didn’t get to say ‘I love you’ that day to my son,” said Leslie.
Mason was a sophomore at Ben Lomond High School, and only a month into school when he was killed in a shooting. A bullet went through the trunk of the car he was in.
They were near Highland Jr High and Bonneville Elementary school where police said they found many rounds “within 100 feet of school grounds.” The driver of the car Mason was in brought him to Ben Lomond High to get help. Mason was pronounced dead after being transported to the hospital.
"I couldn’t see my son because he's evidence, and the last time I saw my son was being wheeled out in a body bag and taken to the morgue,” recalled Leslie. "I have to wake up every morning and remind myself that my son is dead, he’s gone, he’s not coming back.”
Leslie said Mason had a good heart, was goofy and had dreams of joining the Marine Corps.
"I’ve had people send me messages said 'we signed up for the military in honor of Mason',” she said.
She hopes to keep his memory alive and raise her voice against gun violence.
Police say it was a gang shooting with two juveniles arrested, and one of their fathers faces an obstruction of justice charge. Leslie said Mason was not the target and not in a gang, but knew people with gang affiliations, even though she said she had tried to discourage him.
"He said everybody deserves one good friend; his one good act of kindness got him killed,” she said.
And now, she said she’s fighting another battle — the legal system. She said this case has so many moving parts, so she's still attending hearings, waiting for justice, and trial dates.
"I was expecting 2027, but as a mom, you’re like, okay, January 2027, that's it. And that’s just not going to happen, and then wondering about parole hearings and… it's not just let’s go to trial, be sentenced and be done, it’s not like that,” she said.
She shared a message to other parents: "You have got to keep talking to your kids; it doesn’t matter what age they are. Don’t stop talking to them. Because at the end of the day, you are still their parent."
