Schoolmates Pay Emotional Tribute to Teen-Age Girl Slain by Gang Gunfire

Emotions that had been building all week poured forth Thursday as if from a rain-weakened dam as students at Cleveland High School honored a classmate killed Monday near campus by a stray bullet fired by a gang member.

Rocio Delgado, 16, was hit about six blocks from the Reseda school and, although many of her friends and classmates had held back their tears when they first heard the tragic news, they broke down during the lunchtime assembly.

During the assembly, students sold candy and red, black, blue and silver ribbons to collect money to help the Delgado family transport Rocio’s body to Mexico. By the end of the day, they said they had raised $800.

Friends and school officials said her family plans to move back to its hometown of Cuernavaca, Mexico, because of the death.

About 200 students gathered in the auditorium for the event. Rocio’s friends, including about 40 members of the school’s Latino cultural club, sat on one side of the room in the bleachers behind a table. The rest of the students sat across the auditorium.

The assembly began with the playing of a tape of “ Adios Mariquita Linda ,” (Goodby, Pretty Little Butterfly), a traditional Mexican song of grief. They also lit several candles to honor her.

The students took turns giving tributes to her in English and Spanish. Like Rocio, many of the speakers moved here from Mexico.

The students signed cards to her and some even wrote short tributes to her on the cloth that covered the table at the event.

“All that I can say is God wants good people near him,” wrote one friend. “I will always love you,” wrote another.

Student after student told of their love for her and described their pain. They told of good times together. Most wept as they spoke.

“I never had the chance to tell her how much I appreciated her friendship,” said Cesar Solis, an 18-year-old senior. “It’s just something I never took the time to do. . . . I never thought she would leave us this way.”

“I dreamed that the light of her eyes would light my life again,” said Mario Basulto, 18, his voice breaking as he read a poem about her. “It was an illusion that would fill my life with happiness.”

“I miss her so much. She is the one I used to tell all my problems,” sophomore Hector Baulto, 15, said. “She used to talk about going to college and becoming a teacher some day.”

The assembly ended about an hour later when Rocio’s friends linked arms and prayed for her.

Benedicto Torres, a 17-year-old senior, led the group in prayer. He called on Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico, to protect Delgado’s soul and, his voice rising, said he wished it had been he who had been killed instead.

Students and family members were planning to attend a Mass for Delgado at 10 a.m. today at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 18400 Kinzie St.

Police say Delgado was killed on Vanalden Avenue after a fistfight between rival gang members escalated into gunfire. Three youths--ages 16, 17 and 18--arrested in connection with the shooting were charged with murder Thursday, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Authorities will ask a Juvenile Court judge today to allow the two minors to be tried as adults in the case, Gibbons said.