Anna Del Rio’s daughter had been brutally executed by a gang member, and later faced gang intimidation in court, where she was not allowed to speak or wear an image of her daughter.  In another case, 16-year-old Martha Puebla testified in court against a double murder suspect, and was later murdered across the street from her home.  These incidents of violence and intimidation reflect the norm of too many California neighborhoods. Gangs and thugs rule the streets, leaving victims in their wake. Our heart goes out to the victims and their families who must make sense out of senseless tragedies. Ed Smith, whose daughter was taken during a senseless and brutal gang crime, is our victim’s liaison.  Ed has worked tirelessly on victims’ rights and public safety issue, and will be a tremendous asset as we tackle gang crimes.

 

In Loving Memory By Trahn Nguyen, widow of Sacramento Sheriff Detective Vu Nguyen

I will never forget that tragic day. It was on Wednesday, December 14, 2007, that the life of my husband, Sacramento County Sheriff‘s Detective Vu Nguyen, was taken away.

At approximately 2:00 pm, my husband and his partner, Detective Ed Yee, were patrolling a known gang hangout in a South Sacramento community hit hard by gang violence.  As they came upon a gang house to talk with a subject, the subject standing outside suddenly ran from them. My husband gave chase on foot, through yards and over fences, while Detective Ed Yee drove their vehicle around the house to cut off the running subject. It was terrible. Then, Detective Yee heard gun fire. He quickly ran to the direction of the shots and saw my husband lying on the ground, wounded. My husband was immediately transported to the hospital but tragically succumbed to his injury by a bullet to his neck.

Police officers converged on the area and subsequently apprehended the cop killer in the morning hours of the next day. The shooter was a kid only 16 years of age and a known gang member with a troublesome past.

My family was so angry, so hurt. It was not acceptable, for the kid was only 16 years old.

My husband was so happy and excited when he became a member of the Gang Suppression Unit.  I remember when Vu would come home from work and tell me what he did that day with this joyful and happy expression on his face. I know my husband had a dangerous job and there wasn’t a day that my family and I didn’t worry about him. But he loved it so much because he wanted to serve to the community and provide safety for others. 

It has been 6 months since my family and I have seen my husband, our loved one. We miss him so much that the feeling is indescribable. We couldn’t believe because of what happened that day, that we would never see him, never hear his voice, and never spend fun times with him again. For a while, the fact that he was gone didn’t feel true or real and I was unable to accept that reality. Every night I pray for my husband to come to my dreams to tell me what I should or can do now. It has been so hard because he was my rock and my foundation that supported me when life presented me with difficult challenges. And now that I am in the middle of dealing with the most difficult challenge of them all, he’s not here.

I am so proud of my husband and I am even prouder to have been given the honor to be his wife. I know that he is looking down at my family and me and protecting us each and every day. We love him so much and will never forget him. His memory will live on for many lifetimes to come.

 

An Innocent Victim of Urban Gang Terrorism By Judy Gibson, Mother of Gregg W. Gibson, II (April 30, 1982 – Nov. 16, 2002)

On November 16, 2002, a parents’ worst nightmare happened to our family, our 20-year-old son and his best friend were shot and killed in a neighborhood while attempting to enter the 405 freeway in Los Angeles County.  According to the Homicide Detective working on our son’s still open “cold case” it was a random act of violence meaning that the gang bangers killed our son’s without knowing them but were looking to kill anyone in the area as an act of revenge for a recent shooting to their “hommies.”

My son was shot four times in the back, he never saw his killers, they left him slumped in the passenger seat, they shot his friend first so that he could not continue to drive.  No witnesses have come forward as I am sure they are afraid of retaliation, 5 years later and still no one has been held accountable for their deaths.

The Detectives have the names of those involved, two are free, one has been imprisoned for another murder and another killed while attempting to rob a facility with the same gun used to kill our children.  My son gave me a kiss on the head and two hours later he was dead, we will never see his smiling face again, hear his laughter, or have the opportunity to tell him to “lower the volume to his music”.

Our boys had no gang involvement, our was enrolled in college, had a full time day job and looked forward to his 21st milestone, his best friend and family had come to America from Saudi Arabia to flee persecution and terrorism, instead they found it on the streets of Los Angeles, the terrorist war here in California (and the U.S for that matter) called urban gang warfare.

Our family thought we did all the right things, we put our kids through extra academics and extracurricular activities.  We volunteered civically, we taught our kids how to phone bank for elections and campaigns that would help our communities and California. 

They gave up their weekends to canvass neighborhoods to get people to vote and still our only son was taken by a senseless act of gang/gun violence.  Today I volunteer as a Victim Advocate, I thank you and your organization for providing this website of facts and statistics and also for the opportunity to show the faces and share the stories of those behind those numbers.  If I may be of any assistance to your organization, please let me know.

In the meantime, I invite you to visit the following websites that share stories such as mine.

www.gregg-w-gibson-ii.memory-of.com
www.fallen-angels.memory-of.com
www.victims-of-violence.memory-of.com

 

Son murdered by illegal aliens By Angie Morfin Vargas

My son, Ruben, was murdered by a gang member that was here illegally from Mexico.  Please don't let things like this happen to anyone else. Criminals like the one who killed my son shouldn't be allowed to stay. Illegal immigration hurts American Latinos. For the sake of my children and grandchildren please don't cave in to President Bush.

Husband brutally killed by two gang members By Maggie Elvey and Family

April 28, 1993.  my husband Ross V. Elvey was closing his place of business when  one juvenile (DM) came in the front door and distracted Ross while another juvenile (KK) came in the back door with a metal pipe. KK proceeded to beat Ross over the head with the metal pipe; they held him down on the floor and continued to beat him. They stole the items they had come for and stupidly ran out the front door where one of Ross’ customers (LB) was driving by.

LB jumped out of his truck and started to chase them. The two juveniles ran through the neighborhood stopping to ask many people to give them a ride home as a gang was chasing them. When LB could not catch them he went back to the shop and called 911.

The Sheriffs Department drove through the neighborhood and found a lady who had put them in her son’s car and had him drive them home. Knowing the color and type of car these two where in, they were caught within 45 minutes.

Ross was in a coma for 41 days before he passed away on June 7, 1993.

DM was four months short of being 16 years old, so he could not be tried as an adult.  Their gang was called 187 Crip. DM’s street name was “NINE” as he could get 9mm hand guns for others. At 14, he supplied handguns to two other 14-year-old juveniles who committed two murders.

Maybe if something had been done to DM when he first started passing out guns, my husband may still be alive. DM was in the Youth Authority until the day before he turned 25. I don’t think he ever learned a thing. I attended eight yearly progress hearings for DM.

KK was two months over 16 years old and thus, was tried as an adult.  His street name was 187 insane.

The prosecutor and judge on the case were great.  KK was found guilty in a day and a half trial of First Degree Murder with Special Circumstances and the Judge gave KK a LIFE WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE (LWOP) SENTENCE in September 1994.

Since then KK has tried to kill another inmate and received a 25-to-life sentence for attempted murder. I hope that with his two sentences, he won’t ever be released.

It is hard to describe the pain, sorrow and troubles this brutal murder of our loved one has caused our family. Sit down and write a list of all the things you would lose if your spouse is brutally murdered, what you and your family would go through. 

I still find new things everyday that I have lost and have to work though all because of two juvenile’s bad choice. One example that we don’t think of, when married we file our tax return as married-joint return, when you loose that spouse, you go down to single, which means you now pay more in taxes unless you have small children. It would take many pages to tell you what our family lost and goes through each and every day.

We must make sure the Homicide Victims Survivors of Juvenile Killers have their voices heard across the country when it comes to changes in the reduction of juvenile sentences past and future. Please check out; www.jlwopvictims.org  if you are a survivor of Juvenile Crime

Angie's speech Sacramento, CA - September 2, 2008

Good morning fellow Americans,

I would like to start by thanking you for giving me the opportunity to speak before you today, on this very important matter of sanctuary cities. 

My name is Angie Morfin Vargas, I come before you from the Salinas Valley, which likes to be known as the "Lettuce Capital" of the world.

My family's lives were changed forever on December 29, 1990.  My little boy Ruben who had just turned thirteen was gunned down walking to my mother's home.

I can still remember the phone call that no mother ever wants to receive, I could hear my mother screaming they shoot "The Nino" they shoot "The Nino".  "Get to the hospital".  There are no words to describe what a mother goes through, you are at a point from going crazy.

The whole night was crazy.  They would not let me see my child, my baby.  Finally one of Ruben's uncles went in, when he came out he was trembling and crying and told me not to go in, to remember him the way he was.  But then my husband got to go in, he also came out crying.  This was the first time that I ever saw him cry for my little boy.  He was not Ruben's father, but he was weeping and weeping. 

Finally one of the doctors told me that Ruben was dying.  Half of his brain had just been blown out.  If he lived he would be a vegetable for the rest of his life.  The doctor's didn't think that he would live through the night.  I asked if I could see him, I had to see him for myself, this was my baby.  As I walked in I could see my baby on a table, his little body was trembling. They had him on a machine that was keeping him alive.  At that point the doctor said that the only thing keeping him alive was the machine.  He was already dying, they were going to turn it off. 

I asked if I could give him a last kiss.  I kissed him, they turned off the machine, and he died. 

For almost a year no one knew anything about, who had killed Ruben.

As the years pasted we found out the person who killed him wasn't from Salinas. He was from Huntington Park in Southern California.  He was in town visiting family for the holidays.  He was an  illegal alien.  The police had stopped him two hours before he had killed Ruben, but because illegal aliens were allowed to have driver's licenses back then they gave him a warning and let him go.  Two hours later he was driving in my mother's neighborhood and killed my son.

It is a tragedy to loss a child. Our children should not die before us.  It is a horror for your child to be murdered. It is terrifying to realize your child was murdered by some who was in this country illegally.

Almost four years later with the grace of God my son's story was aired on "America's Most Wanted". 

We got word that Ruben's killer was in Mexico in the state of Jalisco.  Two Special Agents that work for the Foreign Prosecution Unit from San Diego went into Mexico and put a warrant for his arrest, he is now servicing twenty year without parole for my son's death. 

Salinas may not be officially a sanctuary city, but still a safe haven for illegal immigrants.  Who are protected by the very elected officials we vote in to protect us.

If we didn't have sanctuary cities my son would still be alive today.  My son was the ultimate price for cheap lettuce on your table.

Thank You
Angie Morfin Vargas