By María León - EFE
Police in Arizona reopened the case for the 2017 murder of 19-year-old Jasmine Vega while pregnant at her boyfriend's home, thanks to a new lead, and included the death of the baby, who died a year and a half later as a result of gunshots.
The tragedy occurred in Tucson, Arizona, and is one more of the current epidemic of gun deaths in the United States, which has disproportionately impacted Latinos.
On December 23, 2017, Olga Griselda Carreón received news that paralyzed her heart: her daughter, who was six months pregnant, was in a hospital with a gunshot wound.
"It was terrible, my life came to a standstill at that moment. It was very hard for me and my family to lose my little girl like that," Carreon said.
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The hardest thing for the mother is that to date she does not know exactly what happened to her daughter and who the murderer was.
Vega was at her boyfriend's house. According to the first investigations, he was sleeping with him when a car passed during the early morning and its occupants shot the house.
A bullet hit the young woman to death, while her baby managed to survive, but 18 months later and after a long struggle the child died.
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Thaddeus, as he was baptized, could never overcome the premature birth and loss of oxygen he had when his mother passed away.
According to the Violence Policy Center (VPC), between 1999 and 2019 alone, nearly 70,000 Latinos were killed by firearms in the United States. 64% of these deaths were classified as murder.
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In Vega's case, her family's grief is much greater because since Vega's death no one has been prosecuted or arrested for both deaths.
For nearly six years, Vega's parents and siblings have lived through constant torment not knowing who murdered Jasmine, whom they affectionately called "Mimi."
"As much as you try to get on with life, it's very difficult. She is always in my memories, in my dreams," Carreón said through tears.
The mother likes to remember her daughter as a very cheerful young woman, who liked mole enchiladas and who wanted to graduate from high school to become a dental assistant.
Everywhere she goes she always wears a shirt with her daughter's picture on it in the hope that someone can recognize her and give her information.
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Their hopes, however, have been revived now that Tucson Police Department detective Steven Acevedo has rescued the case from the "cold files."
Acevedo told EFE that police have found new and important evidence that could ultimately lead to the perpetrator or perpetrators.
The new investigations suggest that at the house of Vega's boyfriend there was a party and apparently an argument, which could have caused the shooting.
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This data could be proof that more than one person is involved in the event and knows what happened, including the rest of the people who lived in that house.
The detective said whoever was responsible would now face double murder charges and asked that anyone with information about the case contact police anonymously.
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"The only ones who know the truth and what happened are my daughter's boyfriend and his family, who lived in that house," Carreón said, adding that he will not rest until he finds his daughter's murderer.
He also suspects his daughter did not receive immediate medical attention, which he believes contributed to her death. "It's an unbearable pain not to have been with her in her last moments, not to know if she suffered, what her last words were," he said.
For Carreón, his tragedy reflects a growing epidemic of gun deaths that attacks the Latino community.
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A study released last May by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) noted that Hispanics and African Americans are twice as likely as whites to being shot with firearms and witnessing shootings.
"A lot of innocent people are dying, people who sometimes were just in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.
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However, the mother says she is not against the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, which protects the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.
She says she is convinced laws should be put in place that prevent guns from being acquired by people who have mental illness, a history of domestic violence or temperamental changes.