With flowers and candles, mourners gathered outside of Lowe’s in Salinas on Feb. 8 to remember Karina Chavez Vargas, a woman who was shot and killed three days earlier. Chavez Vargas and her boyfriend, Jesus Arias Villa, were parked across the street from Closter Park when both were murdered.
Alma Villa, Arias Villa’s mom, says in Spanish that he was about to give Chavez a ride home and minutes later, she heard gunshots. “They destroyed our hearts,” Villa says. She adds that her son wasn’t involved with gangs or drugs: “That’s what hurt me the most, because he didn’t deserve to die that way.”
According to police, two people on foot shot the couple multiple times, then fled the scene in a sedan.
Bulmaro Chavez Ramirez, Chavez Vargas’ dad, says in Spanish he doesn’t want other families to go through the same shock of violence they are going through. “I couldn’t believe it until I went to the hospital, and the reality was different,” he says.
Chavez Vargas was 23. She was working at Lowe’s and attending college, in her final semester at CSU Monterey Bay. “They cut her dreams short,” her father says.
Arias Villa was 22 and worked as a caregiver for elderly people at Home Care Assistance of California. His mom describes him as a good man, always helping others, especially his grandparents.
The community, which has been rocked by this murder, after a period of relative peace in Salinas.
Jose Tizcareño knew Chavez Vargas for five years as her colleague at Lowe’s and considered her his little sister. “If there is anyone out there that has seen what happened, please come forward,” he says, “because it can happen to your family.”