Though she cannot be replaced, in her 14 years on this planet Tara Romero tied together the countless hearts she touched with her steadfast enthusiasm for life, a bright smile that never faded and a loyalty that never wavered.
Even if she never knew this, it’s obvious from remarks shared by some of Tara’s loved ones who gathered around her bedroom at her mother’s townhouse at Murphy Ranch on East Dunne Avenue, where she and her daughter lived before Tara was shot and killed a couple miles away the night of Nov. 4.
And her mother Annette Nevarez, 47, who said Tara’s killers “took all I had,” urges parents and youth to be involved in the community and in each other’s lives in order to stop gang violence.
“It happens everywhere,” Nevarez said. “It took my daughter’s life, and I’m not stopping. Know what your child is doing. We have to take care of these kids. A parent never imagines this would happen to their kid.”
Police arrested five alleged street gang members shortly after the shooting and while prosecutors charged the suspects with gang-related enhancements, authorities said Tara and three other teenage victims were not affiliated with any illegal activity and were likely targeted by mistake.
Nevarez said she will attend every court hearing that’s scheduled for the “evil animals” who allegedly shot Tara. She’s been remembered as a smiling, loving, energetic friend and daughter.
“True best friends are hard to find, and Tara was a true best friend,” added Ana Cebreros, 14, who has known Tara since the two were small children.
Monday was the first time Nevarez opened up about her daughter’s death to media. She invited about 20 of Tara’s closest friends over to share memories, and to show support for the other three shooting victims – one who joined them at the home while the others remain in the hospital.
“They killed me the day she died,” Nevarez said between sobs.
At times still referring to her daughter in the present tense, Nevarez said she and Tara had an unusually open relationship – “She would ask me anything,” Nevarez said. Tara was always smiling but she “had a conscience,” and everyone liked her because she had a big, welcoming personality.
Nevarez, who raised her daughter with the help of her son Joseph, 23, told how Tara used to give up her recess to help children with disabilities when she was a student at P.A. Walsh Elementary School.
“She was not a typical teenager,” Nevarez said. She added her daughter enjoyed the theater, and participated in Gavilan College’s Summer Theater Arts Repertory summer program. “She was a ham,” Nevarez laughed.
The walls of her bedroom are decorated as they were when she left home to go to school Nov. 4 – with posters depicting her favorite pop stars (Lil Wayne, Tupac, Michael Jackson, Kreayshawn, Bob Marley and others) overlapping handmade, Sharpie-scribbled birthday cards and quote-covered gifts to the teen provided by her friends over the years.
“She always wanted us to make posters to hang in her room,” Cebreros said. Added to the decor since she died are several collages of photographs of Tara, made by her friends.
Two victims remain hospitalized
At Nevarez’s home Monday, the gathered group cleared up some details of what happened the night of Nov. 4. Tara was leaving a birthday party at the Morgan Hill Community Park when the drive-by shooting happened at Cosmo and Del Monte avenues. She was with four friends – Rosa Castaneda, 14 of San Jose; Alicia Sotelo, 14 of San Jose; Alex Chavez, 15 of San Jose; and Chris Loredo, 15 of Morgan Hill.
Three of the friends – Castaneda, Sotelo and Loredo – were also shot in the incident. Earlier reports indicated Chavez had been shot, but those reports were incorrect.
Loredo, who visited Nevarez’ home Monday, said the group was standing on a grassy knoll next to the sidewalk, waiting for Chavez’ grandmother to pick them up after the party. Loredo was standing with his back to the street, when he simultaneously noticed a car with its headlights off approaching, and someone running toward the nearby Village Avante apartment complex.
“Then I heard shooting. My leg started burning and I turned around,” said Loredo, who was shot in the leg and walked with a cane Monday. By the time the gun shots ended, he and Tara were running through an alley between two apartment buildings. It’s unclear exactly when Tara was shot. Loredo helped Tara lie down on the grass, and he wrapped his jacket around her neck, where she had been shot.
He called police, and attempted to provide first-aid to Tara. She was pronounced dead at the scene when paramedics arrived.
Castaneda and Sotelo remain in the hospital – the latter readmitted last week, according to their aunt Brenda Martinez. Sotelo was shot in the leg and released after a few days, still unable to walk. But she recently learned the bone beneath the bullet wound was infected. She had a surgery Monday, and was scheduled for another Thursday.
Castaneda, who was shot in the stomach, has remained in the hospital since the shooting, in and out of consciousness. She “took a turn for the worse” last week as well, Martinez said. An infection in her intestines worsened, and her condition is too critical for doctors to perform surgery.
She was awake and talking Thursday morning, Martinez added, but she still has not been told her mother Lupe died of liver failure Nov. 12 after being ill for two years. She talked about her friend’s death for the first time Saturday, when she cried over the loss.
Mother, friends will never forget tARA
The children and Nevarez alternated sharply between tears and laughter as they shared stories about the late teen. A heavy stillness hung in the air between words, as the teens reflected on the impact their friend had on the world, and observed the decorations on her walls as if for the first time.
Perhaps setting her apart from many teens, Tara’s love crossed the cliquish boundaries and stereotypes typical of adolescence.
“Tara was happy. She was never quiet. Whenever you needed someone she’d be there,” said Oscar Zuniga, 14, who has known Tara since they were in third grade together.
And her friends were comfortable confiding in her, certain she would not turn secrets into public gossip – a trait she might have gained from her mother who has been a dinner and sleepover hostess, as well as a confidante – to legions of kids who became Tara’s fans over the years.
Nevarez, a manager at Denny’s, talked to Tara on the phone just a few minutes before the shooting that night, as the teens were leaving the party. “She said, ‘I’m having fun, Mom,’” Nevarez said. Tyler Washington, 14, another close friend of Tara’s, said she talked to her between classes at Sobrato High the day she died, and Tara urged her to come over to her home to hang out the next day.
Since she died, the halls of Sobrato High School have been startlingly quiet. “You can tell a difference without her there,” Zuniga said.
Nevarez still hasn’t returned to work since her daughter died, but her employees have visited. She said she’s grateful for the police department’s quick response that resulted in the suspects’ arrests, and for the entire community who has supported her and her family since the shooting happened.
The five suspects, who were arrested shortly after the shooting, will next be in court for plea hearings Dec. 15. Esmeling Bahena, 18 of Morgan Hill; Ricardo Diaz, 19 of Morgan Hill; Fernando Mateo Lopez, 20 of Gilroy; Primitivo Hernandez, 23 of San Jose; and Ramon Gutierrez, 17 of Morgan Hill are all charged with murder and attempted murder, with enhancements for their alleged gang-related intent.
Striking a motherly tone to the assembled teens while watching a video/pictorial DVD compiled in Tara’s memory by her friends, Nevarez urged the kids to call her any time they need anything, even if it’s just to talk.
Brenda Martinez added that the gathered teens should eventually act together to speak out against gang violence.
“These five men took away these kids’ happiness,” Martinez said. “They should have to pay. (Tara’s friends) lost something so important to them. These kids will never forget.”
