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Third City Murder In Four Days
posted (August 10, 2017)
Christian Velasquez, a 23-year-old mechanic, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting on Antelope Street Extension last night. Velasquez, who lives on Neal Penn Road, is not believed to be the intended target of the shooting, but was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Today, our news team spoke to the Velasquez' family and the police about the incident. Here's Alex Courtenay with the story...

Alex Courtenay reporting
Last night, 23-year-old Christian Velasquez was with his friends at his usual hangout on Antelope Street Ext. when a car pulled out next to him and opened fire. Velasquez was shot in the abdomen several times, and fell over onto the street as the assailants fled. Police arrived on the scene not long after and began their investigation.

Supt. Daniel Arzu - DOC, Southside Police
"Police investigations revealed that sometime around 11pm yesterday evening or last night, he was standing in front of 7017 Antelope Street Extension when a moving vehicle pass and someone from inside fired shots at his direction which fatally wounded him. He was transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival."

Police do not think that Velasquez was the intended target, and neither does his family. In fact, Velasquez's father, known by most as Flash, thinks that his son was shot because he was hanging out in the wrong area.

Voice of father: Flash
"Well my son, he was, I could say he was a cool young boy, sometimes he barely wanted to talk. He had one kid with a wonderful young lady and he just refused - hundreds of people come here explain to him to keep around his father and stop hang out by those base and this and that. Because when you hang out at a base, those guys won't come to kill you because you did them something. It's just because you are sitting down at a base. They will kill you just like that. So I tell him, keep away."

Now, his family is in shock. Velasquez was the father of a young son, and he is described by his family and friends as a calm, and mild-mannered individual - not someone you'd expect to be the victim of a shooting.

Wilford Tasher Jr. - Cousin of the deceased
"I hang out with the man a lot because he is my little cousin and to me he is not a person who gives trouble like that. He would help and encourage people in other things, but he doesn't really get into problems with people like holding "beef" or getting into argument with anybody. He is someone who was willing to work and make a difference in life."

And while Velasquez's family tries to make sense of this tragedy, the police have already made some headway in their investigation. While they have no motive yet, a checkpoint set up just a few blocks away helped them to track down the getaway vehicle as well as a couple suspects…

Supt. Daniel Arzu - DOC, Southside Police
"Well investigations will definitely will suggest the motive when that is made available, but I must say that we do have 2 persons in custody for questioning at this time in relation to that particular incident."

"The vehicle we are looking for we have that vehicle in our custody and that vehicle is equally processed by the crime scene technicians for any possible clues in relation to this shooting, but so far we have not gotten anything conclusive evidential wise to say that yes we have suspects or etc."

As the investigation continues, some members of Velasquez's family are still not satisfied with the state of gun crime in the city. Velasquez' father told us some of his concerns.

Voice of father: Flash
"The only solution to this murder lies not beneath but on the top starting from the leaders of this country. We need stricter gun laws. For example, I have explained to a couple of the officials from the police before, talking to them and telling them that we need to at least a million or two million dollars and pay everybody that have a firearm and pay them for a gun. If you pay everyone $2,000 or more for a firearm, have them bring it in and we have to after they bring it in, within a month time you find someone with a gun, make a stricter penalty."

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