It's been six months since Sandy De La Mora's husband, Jose Quezada, was killed whereas volunteering at a neighborhood occasion geared toward curbing gang violence in Wilmington.
After a months-long investigation, Los Angeles police introduced Thursday that two males have been charged in reference to Quezada's demise.
However De La Mora continues to be on the lookout for solutions for her and the three youngsters she and Quezada, 46, shared. She needs to know why.
“My husband didn’t deserve this,” she mentioned throughout a press convention on Thursday. Addressing the accused killers, she added: “He was an important husband, a tremendous father, a tremendous 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 faces an enhanced sentence for private use of a firearm, court docket information present.
Esteban was arrested in December. Hernandez was additionally recognized as a suspect on the time, police mentioned, however investigators have been unable to find him in Los Angeles. With the help of 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 mentioned the capturing gave the impression to be gang-motivated. Authorities didn’t present particulars on 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 information present.
Quezada had simply completed grilling on the July 27 “Summer season Night time Lights” occasion on the Wilmington Recreation Heart on North Neptune Avenue when the boys approached the gang of about 100 folks and opened fireplace, police mentioned .
Quezada was hit by fireplace. 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 neighborhood. He organized fundraisers for native households who misplaced family members to gang violence or illness, coached youth baseball and helped the Wilmington Recreation Heart and the Wilmington Teen Heart, Mike Herrera mentioned. director of the adolescent heart.
“He was simply that form of man. If the neighborhood wanted one thing, he was prepared to assist,” Herrera mentioned. “Even the day he died, he was working to maintain children off the streets.”
The neighborhood children knew him as “coach,” and his barbecue ribs and rooster at all times drew a crowd, Herrera mentioned.
Summer season Night time Lights, which launched in 2008, is a metropolis program that holds neighborhood occasions that provide issues like free meals, sports activities and actions in neighborhoods broken by violence.
“It's necessary for this neighborhood to know what occurred and for us to return collectively to report mindless acts of violence in our communities,” LAPD Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides mentioned in the course of the press convention.
Herrera can't get his thoughts round why somebody would shoot Quezada. Though he wasn't in a gang and actively labored to maintain children out of them, Quezada was recognized to have the ability to discuss to anybody whether or not they have been gang-affiliated or not, Herrera mentioned.
“He caught the killers, however he's not going to get them again,” Herrera mentioned. “There aren’t any solutions in a scenario like this. It's only a tragedy.”
