LAKEWOOD, Colo. — A vigil was held Wednesday for Francisco “Cisco” Laqui – a 14-year-old who family said was shot at a friend’s house in Lakewood on April 13.
At the time of the shooting, Lakewood Police said this was an isolated incident. Francisco was taken off life support and died on April 19. Three suspects have been charged with first-degree murder in his death, according to Lakewood Police.
“I am Francisco’s mother,” said Vanessa Garcia. It's a title Garcia will always hold close, even now that Francisco is gone. “As any kid, he just had a lot of life in him. He was very funny, outgoing.”
She said he was shot in the head while at a friend's house in Lakewood near 11th Avenue and Garrison Street. Police said an argument escalated into the shooting.
“Everything was calm and chill, and that was their intention, was to do a music video,” Garcia said. “And one thing led to another.”
Francisco was airlifted to Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora, where he stayed in the pediatric ICU for nearly a week.
“Doctors said he was brain dead,” Garcia said. “It's hard, it’s hard to sit there and have these questions go through your head. 'Am I making the right choice? Do I hang on?'"
Francisco's last words to his mom as she dropped him off at boxing the day he was shot, still ring in her head.
“He said ‘Mom, I love you,’” Garcia said. “I said ‘I love you too, son.’”
The weight of such an unexpected loss is hard to put into words.
“My family is just trying to pull out what they can in a positive way, and it's just extremely hard, extremely hard,” Garcia said. “And what lesson is meant for us?”
This is a pain she knows she shares with other parents.
“It's been hard, it's been hard to know I lost my boy to gun violence,” Garcia said. “I am not the only mother that's out here. I am not the only mother that was in the hospital with their child fighting for their life. It happens in so many ways that it's unbelievable.”
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