Family members thank the community during a vigil Monday, October 3, 2022 at Longfellow Middle School’s cafeteria in Berkeley, Calif., to honor brothers and Berkeley High School students Jazy Sotelo Garcia, 17, and Angel Sotelo Garcia, 15, who were fatally shot during a friend’s weekend birthday party in Oakland. (George Kelly/East Bay Times)
BERKELEY — A vigil Monday night at the city’s Longfellow Middle School allowed several hundred people share the memories of two young brothers taken from their community by gun violence.
You could see the emotion when one person leaned against another in greeting, only for tears to freely spill down faces, or when one of dozens of teenagers suddenly bowed their head and let sadness shake their shoulders. You could feel it in the words shared by parents of children, students and teachers and staff members in the school district, and community members heartened and emboldened to honor their untimely absence, as well as injuries suffered by two other young people.
The brothers were at a party about 9:45 p.m. Saturday at a rented home in the 900 block of Apgar Street in North Oakland when someone entered the house and began shooting, authorities said. Family members identified them Monday morning as Jazy Sotelo Garcia, 17, and Angel Sotelo Garcia, 15.
Two other teen boys, ages 15 and 16, were found outside of the house and taken to a hospital. They are expected to live. Police said that all the victims knew each other and some of them may be related.
On Monday at sunset under the flagpole out front of Longfellow, Beatriz Leyva-Cutler spoke briefly with others before following a group around to the school’s cafeteria on Ward Street.
“I’m a former board school board member. I served for 12 years, and anything that happens to our students and our families in our community, I want to be there,” Leyva-Cutler said.
“I’m here to remember, to console, to be whatever support I can for the family, the school, the community.”
That spirit of support also drew a uniformed Berkeley Fire Department firefighter to lay flowers at a long altar laden with candles, hand-written notes and pictures of the Garcia brothers.
It also led Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel to join school board members in addressing Garcia family members.
After spending the day at Berkeley High School, Ford Morthel was struck by an altar made by young people in the Garcia brothers’ honor: “I saw the community coming together. I heard stories about Jazy and Angel. I saw what I only can know was so much love for your two babies, that I only can infer that they were amazing.
“I pray for you, ever since I got that call, and I will continue to pray for you for the comfort and the peace that only God can provide.”
One of Jazy’s classmates, Arya Perez, spoke directly from his heart about how Jazy’s kindness friendship helped him deal with social anxiety.
“Thank you for talking to me,” Perez said. “Thank you for throwing things on the ground. And then you made me pick them up. Thank you for making jokes with me. You were like a role model to me. I always wanted to be like you the way you got along with so many people.”
Two members of the East Bay Dragons motorcycle club, Kim Cloud and Clark Bowdry, shared their shock and sadness at learning during club members’ weekend visit to Fresno of the brothers’ deaths.
“I have kids that grew up here in Oakland, played Pop Warner football right here in Berkeley,” Cloud said. “To see these young kids that have lost a life, that doesn’t make any sense at all […] You know, we have to stop the killing.”
“I’m just moved,” Bowdry said. “It takes a lot to move me, a lot. You know, I’ve never seen so many tears in so many children’s eyes. We have to change now. We don’t want to repeat this. We don’t want to keep going to vigils.”
Here for tonight’s 7 pm vigil for Berkeley High students Jazy Sotelo Garcia, 17, and Angel Sotelo Garcia, 15, slain in a tragic weekend shooting in Oakland pic.twitter.com/yuDipVNv4M
— George Kelly (@allaboutgeorge) October 4, 2022
Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.
