Page 8A
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East Oregonian
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
ORLANDO: ‘These are nonsensical killings of our children’
Continued from 1A
just really very spirited and always
happy, you know?”
Fernandez, 25, recently had been
dating an older man, a dancer known
by the stage name Eman Valentino.
That dancer was Xavier Emmanuel
Serrano Rosado, 35, who also died
and left behind a young son who
had graduated from pre-kindergarten
earlier this month.
“I have no words to express how
proud and happy I am of my little
boy,” Rosado, 35, wrote on Facebook
recently about his son.
———
Mercedez Marisol Flores went
to Pulse nightclub almost every
weekend, Flores’ sister-in-law said
Monday, often with her best friend
Amanda Alvear. Both women died
in the shooting.
“She was very outgoing,” Nancy
Flores said of Mercedez Flores. “She
had lots of friends. They used to
always meet up at Pulse.”
Born in Queens, New York, the
26-year-old Flores moved to Florida
when she was a child, her sister-
in-law said. She worked at Target and
studied at Valencia College, a local
community college. She wanted to
become a party planner so she could
coordinate events with her two older
brothers, who are both DJs.
Alvear, 25, had bonded with
friend Sandy Marte over breakups
and health problems. Marte said he
was trying to comfort her after the
breakup. She had lost a lot of weight
following gastric bypass surgery and
Marte encouraged her to socialize
and enjoy life.
“She was loving, she was caring,
she always had an open ear, she
always wanted to help people,”
Marte said of his friend Alvear. “She
had an amazing heart. She was a
really good person.”
Both women posted on Snap-
chat from the nightclub before the
shooting.
Flores’ family spent hours waiting
at Orlando Regional Medical Center,
then a staging area at a nearby hotel.
Someone came to read the names
of victims still hospitalized or being
released. Mercedez Flores’ name
wasn’t on the list.
It wasn’t until the early hours of
Monday that her father got a call from
the sheriff’s ofice that his daughter
had died, Nancy Flores said.
———
Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo wanted
to be a star. The 20-year-old dancer
was working at Starbucks inside
a Kissimmee Target store while
studying theater, and would have
auditioned on Tuesday for a play,
said his sister, Belinette Ocasio-
Capo.
“He was one of the most amazing
dancers,” she said. “He would always
call me and say, ‘I’m going to be the
next Hollywood star.’ He really did
want to make it and be known.
“Now his name ended up being
all around the world, like he wanted
— just not this way.”
Omar, as he was known to
family and friends, seemed brash
to 70-year-old Claudia Mason,
who worked with him at Starbucks.
But after getting to know her much
younger co-worker, “I realized he
had a very outgoing personality,”
said Mason. “His sense of humor
was deinitely his deining person-
ality trait.”
Ocasio-Capo was hired as a
Gunman labeled a ‘homegrown extremist’
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The
gunman whose attack on a gay
nightclub left 49 victims dead
appears to have been a “home-
grown extremist” who
espoused support for
a jumble of often-con-
licting Islamic radical
groups, the White
House and the FBI said
Monday.
As
Orlando
mourned its dead with
lowers, candles and
vigils, counterterrorism Mateen
investigators dug into
the background of
29-year-old Omar Mateen, the
American-born Muslim who
carried out the deadliest mass
shooting in modern U.S. history.
“So far, we see no indication
that this was a plot directed from
outside the United States, and
we see no indication that he was
part of any kind of network,”
said FBI Director James Comey.
But he said Mateen was clearly
“radicalized,” at least in part via
the internet.
Comey said the bureau is
also trying to determine whether
Mateen had recently scouted
Disney World as a potential target,
as reported by People.com, which
cited an unidentiied federal law
enforcement source.
“We’re still working through
that,” Comey said.
The FBI chief defended the
bureau’s handling of Mateen
during two previous investiga-
cashier before moving over to the
Starbucks, and became a great
barista, Mason said.
“Omar got along with everyone.
Young, old, male, female, gay, or
straight, it didn’t matter to Omar,”
she said.
———
Eddie Jamoldroy Justice tapped
out a series of chilling text messages
to his mother from a bathroom at the
Orlando nightclub. The 45-minute
exchange began with a message of
love.
“Mommy I love you,” the irst
message to Mina Justice said at 2:06
a.m. The messages became more
frantic as he conirmed to her that the
shooter was in the bathroom where
he was hiding.
“He’s a terror,” her son said.
Eddie Justice, 30, was normally
a homebody who liked to eat and
work out, his mother said. He liked
to make everyone laugh. He worked
as an accountant and lived in a condo
in downtown Orlando.
———
Jose Honorato wrote a simple,
heartfelt message on his brother’s
Facebook page Sunday: “Come
home bro, I’m waiting for you.”
Miguel Honorato did not survive
the shooting.
A father of three, among them a
one and two-year-old, 30-year-old
Miguel Honorato managed four
restaurants in central Florida along
with a catering business on the side
and was always the one to drop
everything to help out his family,
which included seven siblings.
“He was my mentor and my
supporter. He helped very much in
my parent’s house and work,” Jose
tions into his apparent terrorist
sympathies. As for whether there
was anything the FBI should
have done differently, “so far, the
honest answer is, I don’t
think so,” Comey said.
Despite Mateen’s
pledge of fealty to the
Islamic State, a murky
combination of other
possible motives and
explanations emerged,
with his ex-wife saying
he
suffered
from
mental illness and his
Afghan-immigrant
father suggesting he
may have acted out of anti-gay
hatred. He said his son got angry
recently about seeing two men
kiss.
The Orlando Sentinel and
other news organizations quoted
regular customers at the gay bar
as saying they had seen Mateen
there a number of times.
“Sometimes he would go over
in the corner and sit and drink
by himself, and other times he
would get so drunk he was loud
and belligerent,” said Ty Smith.
Smith said he saw the killer inside
at least a dozen times.
Wielding an AR-15 semi-auto-
matic rile and a handgun, Mateen
opened ire at Pulse Orlando early
Sunday in a three-hour shooting
rampage and hostage siege that
ended with a SWAT team killing
him. During the attack, he called
911 to profess allegiance to the
Islamic State group.
Honorato said. Even though Miguel
was younger he was the one who
gave sage advice about the family
business, his brother said.
———
Singing was Shane Tomlinson’s
passion. He had just performed as the
lead vocalist with “The Frequency
Band” on Saturday night at Blue
Martini club before going to Pulse,
according to the Orlando Sentinel.
“He was destined for a grand
stage and he was doing exactly
what he wanted to do,” said Dr.
Lathan Turner, associate director of
student transitions at Eastern Caro-
lina University, where Tomlinson
graduated in 2003 with a degree in
communication.
Tomlinson, 33, was a vibrant
and charismatic lead vocalist for the
band, performing at night clubs and
weddings in the Orlando area.
“I’ve never met anyone like
him,” said Carey Sobel, an Orlando
resident who hired Tomlinson’s
band to play for his upcoming
wedding. “He was really special.”
———
Jonathan Camuy, 25, moved
to Central Florida from his native
Puerto Rico to work for the Span-
ish-language television network
Telemundo.
He was on the production team
for “La Voz Kids,” a talent show for
young singers in its fourth season.
He had previously worked for the
network in Puerto Rico.
Camuy was also active in the
National Association of Hispanic
Journalists, which called him “one
of our own” in a statement about his
death.
———
Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 —
known among family and friends as
“Ommy” — was always the life of
the party.
“Peter makes a difference every-
where he goes. He was a happy
person. If Peter is not at the party,
no one wants to go,” his aunt, Sonia
Cruz, said.
Gonzalez-Cruz, who worked
at UPS, went to Pulse on Saturday
night with his best friend, 25-year-old
Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez.
After news of the mass shooting
emerged, Cruz said she held out hope
for hours that her nephew would turn
up in a hospital bed.
But late Sunday afternoon, she
was told he was among those killed
at the club.
Friend Gilberto Ramon Silva
Menendez also died in the shooting.
———
Edward Sotomayor, 34, was a
caring, energetic man known for
wearing a silly top hat on cruises,
according to David Sotomayor, who
said the two discovered they were
cousins after meeting at Orlando’s
annual Gay Days festival around a
decade ago.
David Sotomayor, who lives in
Chicago, told The Associated Press
Sunday that Edward worked for a
company that held gay cruises and
often traveled to promote the compa-
ny’s events.
“He was just always part of the
fun,” David Sotomayor said.
The two texted regularly and kept
in touch, last seeing each other earlier
this year at a ilming of the television
reality show “RuPaul’s Drag Race,”
David Sotomayor said.
David Sotomayor is a drag queen
who appeared on a season of the
show using the name “Jade.” He
said Edward Sotomayor supported
him and often sent him Facebook
messages. They last exchanged
messages late last week.
“You never think that’s going to
be the last time you speak to him,”
David Sotomayor said. “It’s just
heartbreaking to know it just can
happen anytime.”
———
Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22, told
his cousin Robert Guerrero he was
gay about two years ago, but he was
worried about how the rest of his
family would react. He did not tell
them until just before the beginning
of this year. And when he did?
“They were very accepting,” said
Robert Guerrero, 19. “As long as he
was happy, they were OK with it.”
On Sunday morning, after
learning that so many people had
died at a gay nightclub, Pulse, that his
cousin had gone to once in a while,
Robert Guerrero started to become
concerned. Later in the day, his
fears were realized when the family
learned that his cousin was identiied
as one of the victims.
Robert Guerrero said his cousin
worked as a telemarketer and in
recent months he started attending
college at the University of Central
Florida. His cousin didn’t quite know
what he wanted to study, but he was
happy to be in school. And he was
happy in a relationship with a person
his relatives came to regard as a
member of the family, Guerrero said.
———
Tevin Eugene Crosby’s inspira-
tional posts on Facebook — “2016
will be the best year ever” — repre-
sented his drive for success.
Chavis Crosby, told the Orlando
Sentinel that his brother was ambi-
tious and hard-working. “Whatever
goal he had in mind, he worked
hard. Whether alone or on a team, he
worked on that goal.”
Tevin Crosby, 25, was director of
operations for a Michigan marketing
irm. He recently visited his family in
Statesville, North Carolina, to watch
several nieces and nephews graduate.
Then he traveled to Orlando after
passing along some brotherly advice
about business and setting goals. He
loved to travel for work and fun,
Chavis Crosby said.
“He was deinitely a good person
and a good brother to me,” he said.
———
Stanley Almodovar III’s mother
had prepared a tomato-and-cheese
dip for him to eat when he came
home from his night out.
Instead, Rosalie Ramos was
awakened by a call at 2 a.m. Sunday
telling her something had happened.
Ramos told the Orlando Sentinel
her son, a 23-year-old pharmacy
technician, posted a Snapchat video
of himself singing and laughing on
his way to Pulse nightclub.
“I wish I had that (video) to
remember him forever,” she told the
newspaper.
A friend, Hazel Ramirez, told
the Washington Post she also saw a
video from Almodovar on Snapchat
and learned Sunday afternoon what
had happened.
———
Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25,
started dancing at the age of 10 and
was comfortable with any number
of styles, from salsa to ballroom, his
cousin Ana Figueroa said.
Figueroa told the Orlando Sentinel
that he had texted her Saturday
inviting her out for a night of dancing
at Pulse nightclub. She responded
that she was too tired.
He was out with two roommates,
both of whom were injured in the
shooting, she said. The newspaper
did not identify the roommates.
Born in Puerto Rico, Laureano
Disla moved to Orlando about three
years ago to become a dancer and
choreographer, Figueroa told the
newspaper.
———
Kimberly “KJ” Morris, 37,
moved to Orlando just months ago
and had taken a job at Pulse nightclub
as a bouncer, the Orlando Sentinel
reported.
“She was so excited,” ex-girlfriend
Starr Shelton told the newspaper.
“She’d just started working there and
told me how she was thrilled to get
more involved in the LGBT commu-
nity there,” Shelton said.
Friends described Morris as a
kind, sweet person.
Narvell Benning met Morris when
they were in college at Post Univer-
sity in Waterbury, Connecticut,
where Benning said they both played
basketball.
“I can’t think of a time when I did
not see a smile on her face,” Benning
told the Sentinel. “I’m so thankful
of the good memories I have of her.
This is just unreal.”
Liz Lamoureux, 34, of Walpole,
Massachusetts, told The Associated
Press in a prepared statement
Monday that Morris was one of her
sister’s very best friends and a true
friend to her entire family.
Morris lived in Hawaii for about a
year and then left a couple of months
ago to help her mother and grand-
mother in Florida, Lamoureux said.
SEAPORT: City argued the airport DEATH: Freel said she has legal custody of
raised him most of his life
shouldn’t be subject to the cap at all her grandson and
friend, and minutes later her
Freel said she has legal
Continued from 1A
cap, meaning too few
passengers use the service
to warrant the subsidy.
The federal government
would have had to subtract
almost $107,000 from the
total subsidy for Pendleton
to meet compliance stan-
dards.
The department is
giving all the communities
who are at risk of losing
Essential Air Service the
option to ile an objection,
and the city exercised that
option Thursday.
The basis of the city’s
argument isn’t that the
airport didn’t exceed the
cap, but that it shouldn’t be
subject to the cap at all.
The airport would be
allowed to exceed the cap
if it was more than 210
miles away from Portland,
but the department pegs the
distance between the two
cities at 203 miles.
Filing an objection on
Pendleton’s behalf, Robert
Cohn and Patrick Rizzi of
Washington, D.C., law irm
Hogan Lovells questioned
the department’s method of
measurement, which was
calculated by looking at
the driving miles between
the center of Pendleton and
the entrance of the Portland
International Airport as
measured by the Federal
Highway Administration.
Cohn and Rizzi wrote
that the department’s
methods weren’t “sacro-
sanct” because no law or
regulation mandated it.
“Applying that measure-
ment to Pendleton would
have an unfair, indeed,
catastrophic, impact on
the City of Pendleton if it
causes the City to lose EAS
eligibility,” the attorneys
wrote.
To properly gauge
the distance between
communities, Cohn and
Rizzi wrote the department
should measure from
Pendleton to the Portland
airport terminal.
Measuring the driving
miles between Pendle-
ton’s Federal Aid Urban
Boundary to the Portland
airport
terminal,
the
Oregon Department of
Transportation determined
that the distance between
them was 211.08 miles,
just barely above the
threshold.
Pendleton
Airport
Manager Steve Chrisman
was conident in their
argument.
“Count no chickens
before they hatch, but
ODOT’s measurement is
pretty hard to argue with,”
he said.
Additionally, Chrisman
said U.S. senators Ron
Wyden and Jeff Merkley
wrote a joint letter to the
department in support
of keeping Pendleton’s
Essential Air Service and
was expecting the Oregon
Department of Aviation to
write one soon.
If the department rejects
Pendleton’s objection, the
city can apply for a waiver
to maintain the subsidy.
Chrisman said the city
would argue that the coun-
try’s recent pilot shortage
and SeaPort’s subsequent
bankruptcy caused light
cancellations and put Pend-
leton at a disadvantage.
Pendleton’s worst case
scenario would involve
the department rejecting
both the objection and the
waiver, which would end
subsidized air travel to and
from Portland.
Chrisman said a lack
of subsidy would make it
expensive and burdensome
for airlines to operate out
of Pendleton.
“It would be a bad
thing,” he said.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
Continued from 1A
autopsy from Saturday, but
he would not reveal those
indings to protect the inves-
tigation.
Milton-Freewater Police
Chief Doug Boedigheimer
said in an email all oficial
information on the case will
come from the district attor-
ney’s ofice. That protocol
is per the major crimes team
agreement, which speciies
cases will have one source
of public information. Most
of the time, that has been the
district attorney.
Reports
from
“an
online
‘news’ source,”
Boedigheimer stated in an
email, “... did not come from
the DA’s, nor my ofice. In
fact, no one with any direct
knowledge of the case even
knows where that informa-
tion came from.”
The infant is the
great-grandchild of Barbara
Freel of Milton-Freewater,
and her teenage grandson was
the father. Freel said the teen
is a suspect in the death.
Freel said she helped the
teen, his girlfriend and their
baby move into an apartment
in Milton-Freewater on May
8. She visited last Wednesday,
she said, and the grandson
and baby were there but not
the girlfriend. Freel said
she left them alone to see a
grandson called and said the
baby was not breathing.
Freel said she told him to
call 9-1-1, and while hustling
back she also called the
emergency number. A police
oficer arrived a moment
after she did, she said, and
an ambulance came right
after the cop. The ambu-
lance rushed the infant to a
hospital, while police took
her grandson to the station,
722 S. Main St.
Freel waited at the police
department, she said, and
Thursday around 2 a.m.
police took her grandson
into custody on a probation
violation for not participating
in an anti-drug and alcohol
class. Since then, she said,
the boy has been in the
Northern Oregon Regional
Correctional Facilities, in The
Dalles.
custody of her grandson
and raised him most of his
life. She did not know what
happened after she left that
apartment, she said, and they
have not spoken since police
took him.
She felt frantic, she said,
until Monday morning, when
Hermiston police detective
Randy Studebaker spoke with
her for 45 minutes. Stude-
baker showed compassion,
she said, and explained what
could happen to her grandson,
including the possibility of
criminal prosecution.
Primus said he plans to
confer with investigators and
from there will determine
if the evidence supports
bringing charges.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
541-966-0833 or pwright@
eastoregonian.com.
When they say “Summer in the city!”
and you say “The weather is pretty?”
541-567-4063
405 N. 1st St., Suite #107,
Hermiston
Ric Jones,
BC-HIS
Verna Taylor,
HAS
Forrest Cahill,
HAS
541-215-1888
246 SW Dorion, Pendleton