At a Saturday vigil in a nearly empty Calumet Park, friends and family toasted to the life of Aurelio Guzman Jr. with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

The sweet treat had been a favorite of the 16-year-old gun violence victim, who went by “Junior.”

Guzman was killed in the early morning of Oct. 31 in the 9900 block of South Avenue G, in the East Side neighborhood. He died at Trinity Hospital following a single gunshot wound below his ear, according to police.

“I loved my son. He was my everything,” Guzman’s father, Aurelio Guzman Sr., said. “Nothing could bring him back to me. He was my only blood son. It’s going to hurt until I die.”

A cross pendant hung from a memorial to Guzman in Calumet Park, adorned with prayer candles and dusted with the last leaves of fall. Friends and family drove sticks and pencils into the ground to prop up photos of Guzman — graduating from middle school, holding a giant birthday cake, linking arms with his father.

Some mourners wrote messages to Guzman on a length of green tablecloth, including Maritza Flores, a childhood neighbor and friend.

“It’s very sad,” said Flores, 24. ”We remember him as a loving kid — a small, little kid — and now he’s no longer here.”

The vigil was organized by the Israel’s Gifts of Hope Foundation, which supports families affected by gun violence, and Treatment Not Trauma, which advocates for alternative forms of crisis response in Chicago.

Lisa Salazar, a community nurse and Treatment Not Trauma volunteer, became close to the Guzman family when Guzman’s grandfather was a patient. Before Guzman died, she had been working with him on college applications, planning to fill out federal student aid applications with him over the winter holidays.

“I watched the young man grow up,” she said. “I’m almost glad that his grandfather has passed away, because it would just kill him to bury his grandson.”

Addressing nearly 30 mourners in Spanish and English, Salazar referred to gun violence in Chicago as a second pandemic, following COVID-19.

Guzman is one of 55 kids age 17 and younger who have been shot to death in Chicago since the start of the year. Two other teenagers were killed by gunfire in the same police district as Guzman on the weekend of Oct. 31.

“My heart is heavier every day,” Salazar said.

[ As Chicago endures rise in number of young shooting victims, three are killed and nine injured in less than two weeks ]

Gun violence on the East Side of Chicago tends to spike around Halloween, community activist Dolores Castaneda told the Chicago Tribune. Castaneda, who is based in Little Village, was among those at the vigil calling for social services supporting de-escalation, including bereavement counseling for grieving families and financial assistance for funeral costs.

Afternoon Briefing

Weekdays

Chicago Tribune editors’ top story picks, delivered to your inbox each afternoon.

Exposure to gun violence without mental health treatment overwhelms young people and their families alike, Castaneda said.

“We can’t be losing our children, just like that,” Castaneda said. “We are losing the young people in this country.”

Junior’s father, Aurelio Guzman Sr., had told the Tribune that his son may have had a friend involved in gang activity. Saturday, the family was adamant that Guzman Jr. was not himself affiliated with any gang.

Instead, Guzman Sr. attributed his son’s death to “cowardly people.”

“He wasn’t the type that would open his mouth, or a snitch,” Guzman Sr. said. “He didn’t deserve this. He had just turned 16.”

As peanut butter cups were solemnly consumed, mourners wrote messages to Guzman Jr. on blue and white balloons. His family huddled tightly together as dozens of final goodbyes floated high over Calumet Park.

“Long Live,” one star-shaped balloon read. “Love you forever, Aurelio.”