Slaying Victim’s Family, Friends Plead for Leads

One year after 25-year-old Gabriel Cortez was shot and killed on Dec. 9, his relatives gathered Tuesday outside the Oxnard cafe where he was slain.

A few people carried signs, and all wore matching white and black T-shirts in a memorial vigil. Among the participants were Cortez’s daughters, 4-year-old Melissa and 6-year-old Lydia and his 26-year-old nephew, Joey Lopez.

“We don’t want anybody to think we forgot,” said Virginia Cortez, a sister.

Their T-shirts, imprinted with the words “Forever in my heart” in English and “Siempre en mi corazon”in Spanish, also carried Cortez’s picture.

Sisters Gloria Lopez and Lucy Cisneros passed out bilingual fliers offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for Cortez’s shooting death at the 5th Street cafe. Three men fled after the shooting. No arrests have been made.

Oxnard Police Det. Doug Wylie said Tuesday that “the case is still active and being worked.”

Earlier this year, several family members attending a City Council meeting stated they didn’t think the police were pursuing the case vigorously enough.

Also on Tuesday, the Cortez family and friends held a memorial service at the grave site in Santa Clara Cemetery.

Gloria Lopez said, “We need people’s help to find who killed our brother. We’re just trying to get a break. Anyone who knows something can call the Police Department anonymously. We’re doing this to stop the violence--it’s not just gang members that are being murdered.”