The “sweetest woman alive” is among the victims of a mass shooting in Orange, Calif. that killed four people.
“Not a cold bone in her body,” Vania Tovar told The Epoch Times April 2. “My sweet sister didn’t deserve this. She was never in a bad mood and always helped me in my decisions. We spoke every day. She was my sanity. She was my soul. I know all she would want now is to make sure her family is taken care of.”
Jenevieve Raygoza, a 28-year-old mother of two, was among four killed during the March 31 shooting at 202 W. Lincoln Ave. in Orange, Calif.
Her sons, who are four and eight, were playing softball at the time of the shooting, with their dad Aramando Raygoza watching from the sidelines.
They have since learned of their mother’s death.
“He said, ‘No, not my mommy,’” Tovar said, describing how one of the young boys reacted to the killing.
Other victims include Leticia Solis, and nine-year-old Matthew Farias. The boy’s mother, Blanca Tamayo, survived the shooting and is in hospital.
Vania Tovar didn’t just lose her sister in the shooting—she also lost her father, Luis.
Luis Tovar, a 50-year-old grandfather who owned Unified Homes, was also killed when the gunman inexplicitly opened fire at his office.
“We called him ‘The King’ because he was our king,” Vania said. “We thought it jokingly because he was the prom king his senior year in high school and the name stuck. He truly was a king.
“My heart is shattered,” she continued.
“He was so proud of the life he had and the foundation he built for our entire family is dismantled. He was our everything and the glue to the entire Tovar family. He was the best dad, the best grandfather to all of his grandchildren, and the most selfless person on the earth. If anyone was going through a rough time or was in a difficult situation they came to my dad.”
The suspected shooter, identified as 44-year-old Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez, suffered a gunshot wound and was taken to hospital in critical but stable condition. Police said the shooter used bicycle-type cable locks to secure the gate leading to the building before opening fire.
Gonzelez had most recently been living out of an Anaheim hotel room, and drove a rental car to the shooting scene, police said.
Vania Tovar said she recognized the suspect.
“He was the husband of an ex-employee who has not worked there for two years,” she said. “There was no business relation there.”
He was not mentally ill, she said.
“Everything was premeditated,” Tovar said. “He is not crazy. There is no insanity there. Just pure evil.”
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said he would do everything in his power to bring justice to the victims’ families.
“I’m here to make something very, very clear,” Spitzer told reporters. “Mr. Gonzalez is eligible for the death penalty. This is a special circumstances case, there were multiple victims. And we are now presently looking at whether he is locking of the front and the back gates constituted a lying in wait, which would also be eligible for death.”
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