AUSTIN, Texas -- There are nearly two dozen names painted on a South Austin fence, but one in particular brought a tear to Nikki Palacios’s eye.
"Everybody wanted Devin to be there,” said Palacios, a mother of four who has taken in several of her children’s friends who have had problems at their own homes.
“Devin was a good time. He was always smiling, he was always joking and kidding around. He was just a regular fun-loving 16-year-old kid."
Devin Contreras's name appears on a South Austin mural in this image from June 2020. (Develon Douglas/Spectrum News)
Devin Contreras moved in with Palacios and her family when he was 14. Palacios said Devin had been living in an abandoned house when her daughter asked if he could come live with them.
“Oh, another mouth to feed,” Palacious joked, but she described Devin as caring and simply wanting someone to love him. Devin excelled at any sport he played, according to Palacios, with baseball scouts looking at him while he was in school.
Although Devin had promise, he also had problems that would lead to his untimely death in 2010. Police were called to the Big Lots store near IH-35 and William Cannon Drive after an alarm was tripped. Responding officers spread out to find the suspects. Devin ran into Austin Police Department Officer James Bowman, who yelled for Devin to put his hands up. Bowman started shooting as Devin began to comply. Bowman said he thought Devin was firing a weapon, but no weapon was seen in the dash cam footage.
Nikki Palacios sits near a mural in South Austin that includes the names of victims of police shootings. (Develon Douglas/Spectrum News)
"We are very well aware that he was some place he was not supposed to be, doing something he was not supposed to be doing,” said Palacios. “But at the same time, he was a 16-year-old child. He was unarmed, and he had his hands up - and they opened fire on him."
Ten years later, Palacios has been standing next to the thousands of other protesters marching on downtown Austin, in the name of Devin and more importantly his child that he never met.
Palacios was shocked to see Devin's name pop up in her Facebook newsfeed this week, painted on a fence with the names of nearly two dozen others who had been killed by police across the United States. She had no idea where it was or who had painted it.
Jared Lindsay owns the home at Stassney and Meadow Crest. He decided to make the mural on his fence line to replace the COVID-19 mural they had painted there just weeks before. Lindsay invited friend Bradley Milton to help him out. Milton himself was feeling pretty down about what he’s been seeing and watching unfold across the country. But what happened as they were painting, Milton chalks up to nothing but fate.
Devin’s girlfriend and her child - Devin’s child - happened to be walking by as Lindsay, Milton and other neighbors were painting the fence. They asked if there was room for one more name.
"She told us the name, and then told us this was actually his daughter that he had never gotten the chance to meet. And that right there just sunk into me real quick,” said Milton.
“I was just like okay, well, if I can get a chance for this young girl to be able to see her dad's name although she never got to meet him, I just want to be a part of that."
Bradley Milton appears near the South Austin mural that he helped to paint. (Develon Douglas/Spectrum News)
Despite pandemic concerns, Palacios couldn’t help but embrace Milton when she finally met the person who helped paint that mural, and helped keep Devin's memory alive.
“The sad part about it is there's so many names that we could probably take up this entire neighborhood full of names on everybody's fences,” lamented Milton.
Palacios is grateful the name of the kid she called her son is on that fence. She said she plans to keep marching at protests across the state until they stop, to make sure everybody remembers the name Devin Contreras.
The South Austin mural includes the names of nearly two dozen victims of police shootings. (Develon Douglas/Spectrum News)