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Juan López left Nicaragua for the U.S. final 12 months in hopes of escaping the violence plaguing that Central American nation.
However his life ended tragically on the streets of Los Angeles, felled by a bullet whereas working to earn cash so his daughter again in his dwelling nation might rejoice her ninth birthday.
On the day he died, López, 39, was in a great temper as a result of he had been provided a “trabajito,” a small job portray an ice cream store with another males.
Life had not been straightforward in Los Angeles. He had struggled to search out work as a painter, and was residing along with his sister in a small house in Northridge, sleeping on a cot in her front room. He missed his three youngsters — Brittany, 9; Johan, 12; and Edward, 13 — whom he’d left in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.
His daughter Brittany’s ninth birthday was April 15 — the day of the portray job — and he couldn’t wait to ship a reimbursement to Nicaragua.
“He was so pleased as a result of he was going to earn that cash to ship his lady to purchase the cake,” mentioned Ruth López Suarez, Juan López’s sister.
He awoke at 7 a.m., shaved, showered, made his mattress, left and he or she by no means noticed him once more.
Round midday, López was shot to loss of life exterior the ice cream store on Parthenia Avenue in Northridge as he painted over gang graffiti, police mentioned. The alleged shooter had seen López and different staff protecting up graffiti that he and his crew had tagged on the wall earlier that day and was so offended that he shot on the males, killing López, he confessed to police.
López — who had been in the USA for six months, and Los Angeles for simply three — had gotten caught in disputed gang territory, unwittingly risking his life for a meager wage and a day’s work, in response to police and his sister.
Between Jan. 1 and Might 13, 98 individuals have been slain in Los Angeles, a steep drop from final 12 months’s charges, in response to Los Angeles Police Division statistics. In the identical interval final 12 months, 135 individuals have been killed, the statistics present.
It was not López’s first run-in with violence. He was kidnapped and held for ransom in Mexico by a smuggler, although he ultimately escaped.
He had come to America, in search of security, his sister mentioned.
The household was concerned in native politics in Nicaragua. They labored on elections and took part in marches and protests towards President Daniel Ortega’s iron rule.
“When one opposes the federal government in Nicaragua, they’re at hazard of getting arrested or disappeared. He needed to keep away from that. That’s why he left,” his sister mentioned. “Now that we misplaced my brother, we see the reality that we didn’t notice earlier than. In my dwelling nation, you don’t see these issues the place somebody comes randomly and kills you. … You must have an issue with somebody for that to occur. … Right here, they kill you as a result of they need to, or as a result of they confuse you with somebody, or just since you’re working, they usually kill you.”
After the capturing, it took Ruth López days to determine what occurred to him.
López didn’t return dwelling on the morning after he left to color the ice cream store, so his sister went in search of him. She went to the locations he often appeared for work — just like the Mormon church down the road.
Ultimately, she discovered a person who had labored together with her brother previously.
“I confirmed him an image of my brother and he mentioned, ‘Your brother is lifeless. … They killed him yesterday.’”
However police mistakenly reported that it was a 60-year-old killed, giving her false hope that her brother would possibly nonetheless be alive.
Even after the person informed López that her brother was lifeless, she nonetheless couldn’t discover his physique. He was not on the hospital and police had no data for her. It wasn’t till the lifeless man’s fingerprints have been matched with López within the Immigration and Customs Enforcement database that she knew for sure he was gone. Her brother had filed for political asylum and was awaiting his first formal courtroom listening to.
Now, López hopes to ship her brother’s physique again to Nicaragua to be buried, which she can’t afford to do. It prices $12,800, she mentioned, and he or she is elevating cash on GoFundMe to cowl the bills. She has raised simply over $5,000 up to now.
“My household desires to see him, his youngsters need to see him. It’s the least I can do for him now,” she mentioned.
For Ruth López, it’s nonetheless onerous to consider that she is going to by no means see her brother once more. She left his cot out in the lounge of her house, his mattress made — he made it each morning. It’s prepared for him if he does come again.
“I believe that I’ll see him once more. I really feel prefer it’s a lie. I’ll see him once more,” she mentioned.
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