It’s been six months since Sandy De La Mora’s husband, Jose Quezada, was gunned down whereas volunteering at a group occasion meant to curb gang violence in Wilmington.
After a months-long investigation, Los Angeles police on Thursday introduced that two males have been charged in reference to Quezada’s demise.
However De La Mora continues to be looking for solutions for herself and the three sons she and Quezada, 46, shared. She needs to know why.
“My husband didn’t deserve this,” she stated throughout a information convention Thursday. Addressing the accused killers, she added, “He was an amazing husband, an incredible father, an incredible buddy, and now we’re left torn and damaged due to your cowardice.”
Sergio Esteban, 28, and Estevan Hernandez, 27, are each charged with homicide. Hernandez is going through a sentencing enhancement for private use of a firearm, court docket data present.
Esteban was arrested in December. Hernandez was additionally recognized as a suspect on the time, police stated, however investigators couldn’t discover him in Los Angeles. With help from the FBI, Hernandez was positioned in Mexico in January. He was taken into custody by native authorities and turned over to the Los Angeles Police Division this month.
Capt. Jamie Bennett described the boys, who’re each from San Pedro, as “documented gang members” and stated the capturing seemed to be gang-motivated. Authorities didn’t present particulars about how the 2 males have been recognized as suspects.
Esteban is being held on $2-million bail and Hernandez in lieu of $3-million bail, jail data present.
Quezada had simply completed grilling on the “Summer season Evening Lights” occasion on July 27 on the Wilmington Recreation Heart on North Neptune Avenue when the boys approached the group of about 100 folks and opened fireplace, police stated.
Quezada was struck by the gunfire. Paramedics with the Los Angeles Fireplace Division tried unsuccessfully to revive him.
Quezada owned a upkeep enterprise however spent his free time volunteering within the Wilmington group. He organized fundraisers for native households who misplaced family members to gang violence or sickness, coached youth baseball and helped out on the Wilmington Recreation Heart and the Wilmington Teen Heart, stated Mike Herrera, the teenager heart’s director.
“He was simply that sort of man. If the group wanted one thing he was prepared to assist,” Herrera stated. “Even the day he died he was working making an attempt to maintain children off the streets.”
The neighborhood children knew him as “coach,” and his barbecued ribs and hen at all times drew a crowd, Herrera stated.
Summer season Evening Lights, which launched in 2008, is a metropolis program that holds group occasions providing things like free meals, sports activities and actions in neighborhoods harmed by violence.
“It will be important for this group to know what has occurred and for us to affix collectively to denounce mindless acts of violence in our communities,” LAPD Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides stated through the information convention.
Herrera can’t wrap his thoughts round why anybody would shoot Quezada. Though he wasn’t in a gang and actively labored to maintain children out of them, Quezada was recognized for with the ability to speak with anybody whether or not they have been gang-affiliated or not, Herrera stated.
“They caught the murderers, but it surely’s not going to deliver him again,” Herrera stated. “There’s no solutions in a state of affairs like this. It’s only a tragedy.”
