Berkeley

Family, Friends Remember Teen Brothers Killed in Oakland House Party Shooting

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After a weekslong delay due to a backlog at the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau, family and friends on Thursday finally gathered to say their goodbyes to two teen brothers shot and killed during an Oakland house party.

Hundreds gathered at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Berkeley to remember 15-year-old Angel and his 17-year-old brother Jazy Sotelo Garcia. The two were killed during a house party at an Airbnb rental home in Oakland on Oct. 1.

"It’s a really difficult time for us and it’s the kind of pain that we will never be able to forget or get over," uncle Ruben Garcia said in Spanish.

Many of those who spoke at the funeral talked about the boys' kindness. Family members asked everyone in attendance to wear white to symbolize the peace that cousin Melani Garcia said the brothers represented.

"Their energy was just so warm and engulfing," she said. "Their power as brothers and as a unit, that will never go away."

The boys' mother, Maria Garcia, is now raising their four younger siblings. She knows her sons are with God and wants them to be remembered as good kids.

"I want them to remember them as really good kids, really good guys," she said in Spanish. "I was raising really good citizens."  

As police continue to look for at least three suspects, family members said they will continue to fight for justice.

"I want the person who did this to my kids to pay for what they did to them, and I believe in our authorities and in God, too," Maria Garcia said.

Soccer teammates of Angel are dedicating their season to his memory while the Berkeley Unified School District said both brothers' legacies will live on through their community.

"Everything that we are going to do is just going to be for them," said Allan, one of Angel's teammates.

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