CLEVELAND (WOIO/Gray News) – A Cleveland family is facing an awful reality, knowing a baby will have to grow up without his dad, after a 19-year-old father-to-be was shot and killed on his birthday.
Juaquim Torres, 19, was shot and killed around 7:10 p.m. Friday while walking home to celebrate his birthday in Cleveland. He was left to die on a sidewalk, WOIO reports.
Family and close friends of Torres, who was also called Jack, gathered Sunday at a memorial set up at the spot where he took his last breath. They say the 19-year-old had his entire life ahead of him and a baby on the way. Now, instead of celebrating his birthday, they are forced to plan his funeral.
Through tear-filled eyes, Torres’ grandmother, Edith Ellis, said he was her heart.
“He was so excited about his child, so excited. He was also excited about graduating and walking across the stage to receive his diploma next month,” Ellis said. “Now, there’s no graduation, and he’ll never see his child. For what? There’s no reason.”
For Daniela Jones, who is 5 months pregnant with Torres’ child, this is a nightmare she can’t wake up from. What she was looking forward to has been taken away.
“Getting the chance to see him be a father is what I will miss most,” Jones said. “He was so excited about it… He had already picked a name before we knew the gender.”
Family and friends gathered around the memorial of candles and balloons to hold hands and pray. Through their tears and long embraces, they are demanding justice for Torres.
The 19-year-old’s sister, Jamie Hloska, was especially distraught, angry and determined to get justice. She used paint to write on the sidewalk the following words: “You still matter.”
“They robbed him of his life. He can’t be the father to his child. All he had to do was graduate and become a father. He didn’t even get to meet his child,” Hloska said.
Loved ones, including Hloska, believe the killer is someone Torres knew and trusted.
“I have to put my brother in the ground,” Hloska said. “He did what he was supposed to. He didn’t deserve this.”
Torres absolutely loved his family, according to his grandmother, and ironically, it’s his death that has finally brought them all together.
“I’ve tried for years to get them together. They won’t even talk to each other, half of them. It took my grandson’s death to bring this family together. Everybody loved him, so everybody pulled together,” Ellis said.
Torres’ family has set up a GoFundMe, hoping to raise enough money to give him a proper funeral and burial. They are also hoping police can provide them with some answers about what led up to the deadly shooting.
At this point, no arrests have been made.
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