Remembering Aidyn Hansen, one year later

On September 15, 2024, family and friends of Aidyn Hansen marked one year since he was killed. They met at Leeson Park in Beloit at 5 p.m. to remember him. He would have started sixth grade this year. Many wore t-shirts which Aidyn's mother Ashley Gray had designed in his honor. Rockton-Roscoe News was the only media representatives in attendance, though a TV reporter had sent flowers.

Ashley told us, "I just want him remembered. He deserves that." In March, they gathered at the same park to celebrate what would have been her son Aidyn's 11th birthday, March 4, 2024.

While Aidyn's friends played football, adults and children ate pizza and looked at dozens of photos. A sign on his desk invited people to write a private letter to Aidyn in heaven. Ashley took a minute to do that herself. Guests at the memorial picnic could pick up packets of forget-me-not seeds to plant in his memory.

When it began to grow dark, Ashley led the group up a hill, each one holding a sparkler to light. Ashley said, "I'm not going to talk. There are no words." After the sparklers had burned out, someone else lit skyrockets. Then Ashley and others walked to Aidyn's grave at Eastlawn Cemetery, which adjoins Leeson Park. 

Afterwards, Ashley said the memorial was "kind of all over the place, but with that being the first time having one, it was difficult." But she managed not to cry.

On Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, at 7:07 p.m., Ashley dropped off her 10-year-old son Aidyn Hansen at his 9-year-old friend's home. They had known each other since they were four or five. Ashley says now, "I don't care how long you've known someone, you don't truly know them. Your child's life is way too precious to put in the hands of someone else whom you think you know, so don't."

It was the last time Ashley saw Aidyn alive. She recalls on Facebook, "He stood on the porch in his Red Lancer shirt and turned and said, 'I love you mom, I love you dad, I love you Gracie, I love you Sawyer, I'll see you tomorrow.'" Then he went inside. 

Ashley says the boy's parents were home at the time. The home is in Northgate Estates, in unincorporated Winnebago County, in Rockton Township, just south of Shirland Road on Townline Avenue. She found out they left soon afterwards to go out for drinks. They left the two boys at home - with two handguns. Aidyn's friend knew where his father kept them. 

Ashley says Aidyn wasn't allowed to play guns and had never even held one. "I limited that stuff," she says. But according to Ashley, a few minutes later, his friend made a phone video of himself shooting Aidyn, then hid the gun. About 8 p.m., Aidyn's young cousin, who also lived in Northgate Estates, called her to say that Aidyn was lying unconscious with "a hole in his stomach." Neither Aidyn's friend nor his cousin seemed to understand the gravity of the situation.

Ashley told the cousin to call his mother, then called 911 herself, and sped back to the trailer park, only a minute after the paramedics. She ran to her son. While they performed CPR on Aidyn, Ashley watched as her son's friend laughed and danced. Eventually, she, her husband, six year old daughter, and two year old son watched as they carried Aidyn's lifeless body by his hands and feet to the ambulance three rows down. 

Dr. John Delatorre, a psychologist at Resolution Forensic and Consultation Services, told us any explanation for the friend's behavior could be "extremely complex." Why did the boy shoot his friend? Why was he laughing? Delatorre says, "Nine-year-olds generally understand some aspects of death, as in, life ends, but perhaps the parents avoided the concept in whole. Without knowing more of his home life, it is unclear. It's also possible, the parents allowed the child to watch inappropriate social media content which skewed his understanding about the consequences of behavior. As for laughing, many people engage in behaviors inconsistent with the situation, so it could be that he doesn't care about what he did (which will be a problem as he gets older) or maybe he's so overwhelmed by mixed emotions that laughing was the only behavior he could exhibit."

The friend's father, Jose Manuel Sandoval-Tenorio, was later arrested for endangering the life or health of a child and not having a Firearm Owners Identification Card. Associate Judge Scott R. Paccagnini ruled that since he had lived and worked in the area for 13 years with no criminal record, he could be released until his next hearing. But the judge ordered him not to have contact with his wife or children, to stay away from the family home, and to have no access to weapons or guns. In a "402 conference" in May, the judge discussed what sentence Sandoval-Tenorio would receive under a plea bargain. He is due in court again on Oct. 23, 2024, where he is expected to plead guilty and accept the deal.

Ashley says parents should make sure any guns at their home are "locked, out of a child's reach, and there's literally NO reason your child, especially at 9 years old, knows where your loaded firearms are. Limit your child's screen time, pay attention to what they watch, because clearly that kid learned it from somewhere."

Ashley told us that Aidyn's friend was the little brother of Ray Castro, who six months later fled from South Beloit Police in a car he allegedly stole at knifepoint, beginning a chase that ended with his death from police bullets minutes later after he rammed a Roscoe Police car. No charges were filed against the police officers.

"[Aidyn] was such an amazing child," says Ashley. "Such an old soul. And anyone you ask would say the same. He's the kind of friend I needed when I was a child. So caring, loving, responsible and just overall amazing."

Ashley says, "He raised me as much as I raised him." She was only 16 years old when he was born.

Ashley has learned from other families who have lost children. She has met Jack Baumann's family and says she "absolutely loves them." She became interested in creating a foundation, as they have, in her son's name.