4 Victims of Gunman Laid to Rest

Four victims of an enraged gunman were buried Tuesday as their loved ones gathered on a sweltering hillside, sobbing and wondering how one man’s alleged obsession could destroy so many lives.

After Mass at St. Anthony’s Church in San Gabriel, Oscar Pacheco, 37, and his 14-year-old son, Andy, were laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills about noon. Hours later, Oscar’s brother Jaime and brother-in-law Victor Flores were buried at Resurrection Cemetery in Montebello.

“This is senseless,” said Rene Hernandez, Andy’s teacher and a family friend. “He was a child, a little boy. His dreams were cut short. What is society coming to?”

The four were shot and killed at the family’s home in Rosemead about two weeks ago. At least three of them probably never knew the suspect Evelio Rivera Zacarias, who was jealous that his ex-girlfriend was dating Jaime Pacheco, authorities said. The killer walked into the home with a 9-millimeter handgun and began firing, then hunted down the boy as he ran, shooting him on the sidewalk, police said.

Zacarias allegedly kidnapped another family member, raped her and then fled to Mexico later that night.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested the suspect’s cousin several days later. Efrain Peredia, who allegedly drove Zacarias to Tijuana, is in custody and charged with kidnapping and accessory to murder.

Detectives are working with Mexican authorities to find Zacarias, who has family in Zacatecas. He has been charged with 10 felony counts, including murder, attempted murder, kidnapping and rape.

But returning him to the United States may prove difficult. Mexico does not have a death penalty and does not extradite suspects who may face it here, as Zacarias might.

The district attorney’s office said Tuesday that it will probably press for the death sentence. Under such circumstances, if Zacarias is found south of the border, he could face trial in a Mexican court for the Rosemead slayings.

It has happened before. District attorney’s office spokeswoman Victoria Pipken cited the case of David “Spooky” Alvarez, who killed four people in Baldwin Park in 1996 and was captured in Mexico. Because the D.A.’s office would not back down on seeking the death penalty, Alvarez stood trial in Mexico and was sentenced to life in prison.

Despite officials’ promises that everything is being done to get Zacarias, the victims’ family has complained that the slayings did not get the attention they deserved because they happened the night before the shooting at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills.

“We had a massacre,” said Eddie Corletto, a cousin of the victims. “Our family was massacred.” He said he did not believe authorities launched the same kind of manhunt for Zacarias that they did for Buford O. Furrow Jr., the man accused of wounding five people at the community center and killing a postal worker an hour later.

“We’re burying a 14-year-old boy today,” he said. “We didn’t even have the local government pay its condolences. We have to organize ourselves and get rallies to catch their attention. There’s something wrong with that.”

But more than 200 people attended the services Tuesday at Forest Lawn. Andy’s mother, who was wounded in the attack, sat in a wheelchair while the bodies of her husband and son were lowered into the ground. Relatives hovered around her, holding an umbrella above her and wiping her tears.

Watching her, others began to cry. Among them was Andy’s girlfriend, Marina Ortiz, 14, who said she had hoped to marry the boy when they grew up, and his aunt, who saw her two brothers, her husband and her nephew die in the attack.

Andy’s teacher said he was a humble, emotional boy who dreamed of playing football at UCLA.

Corletto said Andy and his sporting events were the bridge that brought together two branches of the family.

“And someone with no heart comes and takes it away,’ he said.