3 families, seared by grief, continue to ponder the sudden and unfathomable loss of loved ones – sons, uncles, brothers – during a recent streak of gun violence in Springfield.
Left to right, James Rosario, 18, Raul Vera, 38, and Tyrel Wheeler, 16, all of Springfield, were shot to death in Springfield in a 10-day span.SPRINGFIELD – Three families, seared by grief, continue to ponder the sudden and unfathomable loss of loved ones – sons, uncles, brothers – during a recent streak of gun violence in the city.
Raul E. Vera, 38, was shot and killed on July 3 in the McKnight neighborhood. Tyrel Wheeler, 16, was shot on July 7, found critically injured at a Forest Park neighborhood intersection and died at Baystate Medical Center three days later. James Rosario Jr., 18, was shot and killed on July 9 outside his home, also in the Forest Park neighborhood.
The executive aide to the city’s police commissioner, Sgt. John M. Delaney, has said the only common thread among the three killings is the victims’ associations with gangs. He cites the men’s inclusion on a statewide law-enforcement database of individuals with links to gangs.
For some family members of the deceased, however, their grief is intertwined with anger and frustration over the labeling of their loved ones as members of gangs.
“When a young black boy is victimized, he is considered a gang member instantly,” said Felicia Wheeler, mother of the youngest victim.
“They are not just a rap sheet,” Charity Vera, sister to Raul Vera, said. “They all have friends and family of their own.”
Anger over the gang label is particularly strong within the Rosario family.
“If he was a gang member, I must be a gang leader,” said James Rosario, speaking on Wednesday, shortly after the wrenching task of identifying the body of his beloved son, nicknamed “Junior,” who was shot multiple times.
James Rosario holds photos of his son James Rosario Jr., who was the victim of a fatal shooting last weekend on Edgeland Street.Rosario, a self-employed contractor, backs up his words with photographs of his seemingly always smiling son. In one, he is holding a freshly caught striped bass, in another he is riding an all-terrain vehicle, in others he is enjoying time with family.
“We did everything together,” the father said.
Rosario even offers some of son’s pay stubs from Broadway Office Interiors, a job that he held for the three months before his death, as proof of the young man’s determination to make a life for himself.
“This young man had a full-time job; that says a lot about his character,” said Julia Ortiz, the elder Rosario’s sister.
“And he didn’t even miss a day,” Rosario added.
Ronald Gordenstein, owner of Broadway Office Interiors, says the younger Rosario proved to be a model employee. Gordenstein described him as “extremely, extremely courteous” and ever-willing to learn during his short time with the company.
“It kills me to think that somebody thinks he was associated with a gang, unless he had an alter-ego,” Gordenstein said. “In my world, from my understanding of what a gang member is, nothing could be farther from the truth.”
Delaney, spokesman for Commissioner William J. Fitchet, says police track individuals’ gang status on a statewide database which factors in such things as criminal histories, known associates, tattoos and the wearing of gang colors. The database, known as MassGangs, is implemented by the Criminal History Systems Board.
Delaney said the contents of the MassGangs database is not public information; he refused to identify the specific factors that linked each of the victims to gangs.
Media statements sent via email by Delaney in each case said investigators had determined the incidents were “gang-related.”
Members of Vera’s family say, however, that applying the “gang” label to crime victims obscures the full measure of the life that was lost. While Vera had a criminal history, he also had four children, a grandchild and a dream of opening his own barbershop.
From left to right, sisters Celines Saez, Virginia Saez and Charity Vera sit with a photo of their brother, Raul E. Vera. Raul was killed in a July 3 shooting on Lincoln Street in Springfield.“Unfortunately, somebody took away his life and took away that chance,” said Virginia Saez, one of Vera’s sisters.
The younger Rosario, on the night he was shot, had agreed to host an impromptu graduation party for a friend at 85 Edgeland St., the home where he lived with his mother and younger sister.
The 18-year-old’s mother was away, helping a family member, and the elder Rosario says if he had gotten wind of the party he would never have allowed it to happen.
It happened, however, and it was crashed by strangers. A scuffle ensued in the midst of the intrusion, and the younger Rosario was shot as he attempted to usher the suspects off the property.
“He died defending his home,” Ortiz said.
“The people that shot and killed my son, they are animals,” the elder Rosario added.
Rosario, who lives a short distance away, said he got to the scene just as the emergency medical personnel were closing the doors on the ambulance to take his son to Baystate.
“At that point, he had already passed on,” Rosario said. “No one should have to see that.”
Felicia Wheeler, who lost her son the day after Rosario’s death, said she, too, was upset to learn that police had described her son as a gang member.
“When a group of kids hang with everybody from the neighborhood, it’s because they live on that street,” Wheeler said. “You can’t always make that label because of the neighborhood and who they were hanging around with.”
On July 7, Wheeler was found lying in the road at Washington and Meredith streets in the Forest Park neighborhood. His mother’s silver Honda was found crashed into a parked car nearby.
Police believe Wheeler was shot somewhere else and drove the car for an unknown distance before either falling or jumping out. The amount of blood inside the car indicated he had been inside the vehicle for some time.
Although Tyrel Wheeler did not have a driver’s license, his mother says she allowed him to drive the car.
Felicia Wheeler believes her son’s assailants shot him out of jealousy and nothing more. “Here was this 16-year-old driving around in a car,” she said.
Wheeler describes her son as having been a good-hearted person who enjoyed playing football, baseball and basketball. “He had a lot of friends. He had a lot of love,” she said.
Dejuan Brown, of the group Alive with Awareness, Knowledge and Empowerment, which works with young people to avoid violence, said he knew Wheeler for a couple of years after his mother enrolled him in AWAKE programs. “He was a good kid,” Brown said.
Wheeler believes only God can judge her son.
“It takes a village to raise a child,” she said. “Instead of pointing a finger, lend a hand because the community is where we all live.”