Terrance Spears, 14, center, with his friends from San Bernardino’s Victory Outreach Church, gather for a prayer before running in the church’s Run 4 Hope 5K at Whittier Narrows Park in South El Monte. Terrance ran the 5K in memory of his cousin, 12-year-old Jason Spears, who was shot and killed in San Bernardino in March.
SAN BERNARDINO >> Terrance Spears and Josiah Duarte have become an interesting sight in their San Bernardino neighborhood.
The boys, Terrance an eighth-grader at Serrano Middle School and Josiah, a 15-year-old football player at San Gorgonio High School, take jogs through a community where people running is usually a signal something bad just happened.
“We don’t get a lot of people running like that in this neighborhood,” laughed Terrance’s mother, Shaunte Spears, during a phone interview. “But they are starting something. Something good.”
Six months ago, Terrance was running for a different reason.
On March 15, as he and his younger cousin, Jason Spears, 12, were walking to buy some snacks from the corner Circle K at Highland and Orange avenues, an unknown assailant opened fire on the boys. Terrance, wounded, managed to run several yards into the safety of the store. His cousin, who he and his family say was more like a brother to the 14-year-old, was struck and later died. The shooter has yet to be caught.
On Saturday, Terrance took his training and ran the Victory Outreach Run 4 Hope 5K, placing fourth in his age division.
“I’m doing it for my cousin,” said Terrance the night before his big race. A school athlete who excelled at basketball, a 5-kilometer run was something new for the junior high school student, but he was confident.
“I got skills though,” he smiled.
Since that traumatic day, Terrance was befriended by Josiah and his family who live next door in one of several densely packed apartment complexes that sit within a two-square block area from Rainbow Lane to 21st Street and from Orange Avenue to Reedy Avenue.
Josiah’s parents, Erica and Aaron Griego, both devout members of Victory Outreach in San Bernardino, began hosting youth bible meetings in their home, inviting the children from the neighborhood. Terrance soon became a fixture in the Greigo home and a friendship between the high school athlete and the junior high student began to strengthen.
Over the summer, the two learned about the annual 5K which aims to raise money for several of the church’s programs including those focused on rescuing people from the human trafficking, ending gang violence and targeting at-risk youth, according to Erica Griego.
The friends decided to sign up and began training over the summer for the race held at Whittier Narrows in South El Monte.
“(The Griegos) and the church along with my church have been such a wonderful support, not just to me, but the community,” Shaunte Spears said as she sat in the Griego’s kitchen Friday afternoon.
Both women agreed the weekly Life Group meetings and the boys’ training has led to small changes in the community.
“During the summer, there were more kids out there training with them,” Erica Griego said. “Since school started that’s died down a little bit, but they’re still out there and people are cheering them on.”
Shaunte Spears agreed and says she’s proud of the boys doing something that may be out of place within the neighborhood.
“I think you lead by example,” Shaunte Spears said. “If you put out a positive vibe, that’s what you’ll get back and that’s what’s happening here. “It’s been very hard what happened, but I have seen more people coming forward and talking to their neighbors and making positive changes.”
For Terrance, the race is only the beginning. He says he enjoys participating in church events and weekly group meetings and hopes to take on any other challenge placed in front of him with the support of his friends and family.
“I’m ready for anything,” he said. “Whatever they have coming next for me, I’m going to do it.”