Luis Tovar lived for his spouse and children.
An avid outdoorsman, the 50-calendar year-aged usually loaded them up in his fifth-wheel for camping excursions to Arizona. He sat them on the again of his Harley-Davidson motorbike to journey through the hills previously mentioned Fullerton. They expended every Fourth of July, Easter, Thanksgiving and Xmas gathered at his house in northeast Anaheim.
And when he released Unified Properties in 2006 with the purpose of serving to individuals get, sell and transform their made homes, it was only fitting that his family members be element of that, as well. But this 7 days, a enterprise he developed from the floor up grew to become the location for tragedy.
On Wednesday, a gunman entered the business developing on West Lincoln Avenue and opened fire, killing Tovar his daughter Genevieve Raygoza, 28 longtime personnel Leticia Solis Guzman, 58 and 9-12 months-old Matthew Farias, who was Genevieve’s half-brother.
Matthew’s mother, Blanca Tamayo, who is also Genevieve’s mom, was wounded and continues to be in vital ailment. She also worked at Unified Households. When law enforcement arrived, they found Tamayo’s arms wrapped about her younger son, in accordance to the Tovar family members.
The suspect, 44-calendar year-aged Aminadab Gaxiola Gonzalez, is facing various counts of murder and attempted murder, alongside with felony enhancements. Gonzalez experienced two youngsters with a former personnel of Unified Houses, the Tovar household stated.
In just one day, Vania Tovar, 28, had her father, fifty percent-sister and users of her substantial, tight-knit prolonged spouse and children ripped away.
“My dad was every thing for us,” she claimed via tears Friday. “He was the kindest person. Every time any one essential one thing, even if he hadn’t viewed them in many years, he was keen to give them the shirt off his back again. Our entire loved ones is just so perplexed. They have been so innocent in all of this.”
Luis Tovar was an Orange County native. He was so very well-appreciated at Anaheim Higher Faculty that students crowned him promenade king his senior year. He later on gained a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in organization administration and finance from Cal Point out Fullerton and had talked about pursuing a juris doctorate, in accordance to his family.
As a father, Tovar had a demanding set of principles for his 5 children. He anticipated them to try to eat properly, get great grades and work tough. He was substantially softer with his 6 grandchildren.
Luis Tovar is surrounded by daughters Genevieve Raygoza, Thalia Tovar and Vania Tovar. Luis Tovar and Genevieve Raygoza were being among the men and women killed in Wednesday’s capturing.
(Courtesy Vania Tovar)
“Waffles and ice product — which is what he deemed to be a fantastic breakfast for his grandkids,” Vania Tovar said.
Kennedy Gonzalez, 21, said he felt a mixture of anger and unhappiness when he acquired that 1 of the victims of the mass capturing was an outdated relatives good friend — Luis Tovar.
“He was a excellent person, a spouse and children gentleman,” Gonzalez claimed. “He often took care of my loved ones.”
Luis Tovar was in particular shut to daughter Genevieve Raygoza, who Vania Tovar explained as currently being “sunshine on a cloudy working day.”
Father and daughter shared a really like for the outdoor and a enthusiasm for their small business. She labored for him as a transaction manager at Unified Homes for a 10 years. Her husband, Armando Raygoza, operates on the development aspect of the business enterprise.
But the couple’s story began lengthy in advance of they became colleagues. Friendship blossomed into enjoy inside a calculus classroom at Fullerton College. Genevieve Raygoza captured Armando’s attention the minute she stepped into the classroom.
“She was beautiful. I observed her and quickly understood I experienced to sit as close as I could to her,” he reported. “She experienced it all — beauty and brains — and a large heart.”
When the instructor instructed classmates trade information and facts to get the job done collaboratively on assignments, she surprised him by inquiring for his telephone variety ahead of he could inquire for hers. Just after two yrs of dating, they had their 1st boy or girl — a son they named Nathaniel. They married a several a long time later and then welcomed their 2nd son, Andres.
For Armando, it’s the day-to-day moments — the bicycle rides to the park with their boys or the way she lay subsequent to them reading through bedtime stories evening soon after night — that mean the most.
“We had been intended to increase old with each other,” he reported, his voice breaking with emotion. “Luis would always inform us to enjoy daily life mainly because we really do not know how extensive we have together, but we did not assume it would be this short.”
Leticia Solis Guzman, who was among people killed in the violence, was a longtime gross sales govt at Unified Residences. In her profile photograph on Fb, Solis is standing subsequent to Luis Tovar’s daughters in entrance of a giant Christmas tree in what seems to be the family’s living home. The leading of Solis’ Facebook page reads in Spanish: “I’m a Leo, a warrior, cool, cheerful, I appreciate dancing, I appreciate my spouse and children and contentment.”
The Solis relatives could not be attained for remark. Yolanda Torres, an acquaintance of Solis, explained she hadn’t learned what happened to her right up until Friday.
“Honestly, this was tough to take in,” she mentioned. “She was an outstanding person that I had the luck of understanding. This was honestly tough information, we’re dwelling in this kind of hard times.”
The working day of the capturing just transpired to be one of the times that Matthew Farias, 9, accompanied his mother to do the job at Unified Households as an alternative of going to working day treatment, his aunt Rosie Farias explained Friday. Hoover Elementary Faculty in Santa Ana, in which Matthew was a third-grader, is performing distance mastering due to the fact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fermin Leal, Santa Ana Unified University District’s chief communications officer, stated in a statement that the district is “heartbroken by [the] senseless act of violence” that claimed Matthew’s existence.
Matthew’s loss of life is like the loss of 1 of her possess little ones, Rosie Farias explained. She lives just two miles from Ralph Farias, her more youthful brother and Matthew’s father, in Santa Ana. Before the pandemic, their children spent nearly each other weekend with each other. Matthew cherished each instant he expended with his loved ones, she reported.
“He sometimes did not want to leave, whether or not he was at my home, my spouse, my sister, my brother. It didn’t make any difference, he just wanted to keep there lengthier. He just liked the relatives,” she reported.
Whilst the boy’s demise has rocked their spouse and children, Rosie Farias states she’s largely worried about Ralph. Matthew was his only little one. She claimed he looks unfortunate and lost — his eyes teary — but she does not think the fact has totally strike him. She suspects that will adjust once he goes to the coroner’s office.
“I sense like that’s when it is gonna all come down,” she explained. “He’s going to be coming property — by itself.”
Instances librarian Cary Schneider contributed to this report.
