The family of 33-year-old Carlos Gavilanes began their goodbyes to a father and partner at a Hialeah funeral home Tuesday evening. Two-year-old Victoria was pushed in a stroller as her mother draped an arm around her 9-year-old brother, Carlito.
For more than four hours scores of people packed the wake for Gavilanes at San Jose Funeral Home. Heads hung low, they offered hugs to one another.
The wake was the first to be held for one of the shooting victims of Pedro Vargas, who police said killed six people last Friday.
A group of Gavilanes’ friends showed up in memorial T-shirts to offer condolences. They were longtime friends of Gavilanes who played in a handball league together on weekends.
Clad in a T-shirt that had a picture of Gavilanes holding a handball, Luis Melendez remembered his friend as a family man.
"He was a good friend to us. We were always together on the weekends,” Melendez said. “He was a good father. A good friend. A good family man. We will miss him.”
Neighbors Leave Memorial and Recover After Hialeah Massacre
While hundreds continued to say a final farewell, miles away on the 1400 block of West 46th Street where the shooting rampage took place, a prayer vigil was being held.
More than 30 people gathered in front of Gavilanes’ apartment door praying and singing. A representative from the Ecuadoran Consulate was also there to say a few words. He offered to fly Gavilanes back to Ecuador to be buried, but the Gavilanes family declined, saying Carlos Gavilanes' final resting place will be here in Miami.
Funeral services are set for Wednesday at 11 a.m. at St. John the Apostle Church at 475 E. 4th Ave. with the burial to follow at Miami Memorial Park.
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Photo Credit: NBC 6 South Florida