{"id":11403,"date":"2025-05-07T15:29:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T15:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/?p=11403"},"modified":"2025-05-07T15:29:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T15:29:20","slug":"la-voz-de-una-madre-el-amor-de-una-familia-y-la-perdida-de-una-comunidad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/07\/la-voz-de-una-madre-el-amor-de-una-familia-y-la-perdida-de-una-comunidad\/","title":{"rendered":"La voz de una madre, el amor de una familia y la p\u00e9rdida de una comunidad"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A Mother\u2019s Voice, A Family\u2019s Love, and a Community\u2019s Loss<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Linda Alvarado-Arce<\/strong><\/p>\n

On March 29, 2025, Joaquin Romero Simmons, an 18-year-old Senior and soon-to-be graduate of Toledo Public Schools\u2019 Woodward High School, was selling a pair of shoes on Facebook Marketplace when three young men interested in the shoes reached out to him to buy them. They all agreed to meet up to see the shoes in the parking lot of the University of Toledo. And, once there, the buyers in the car told the young Joaquin that they were interested in the shoes and asked him if he had any more items for sale. He said yes, but at his house, and they all agreed to go there and buy the rest of the merchandise.<\/p>\n

They followed Joaquin in their vehicle, parked across the street from his house in North Toledo, and waited for him. This transaction occurred during the late afternoon, when both of Joaquin\u2019s parents were in the home. According to mom, Joaquin entered the home, spoke to them, and asked for their assistance in getting all of his items together because he told his parents that the people wanting to buy the items were in the vehicle in front of the house waiting for him.<\/p>\n

As everything was being compiled, the young Joaquin took a pair of Balenciaga\u2019s shoes out to the three in their car, with his father watching and his mom inside the house gathering the rest of the items. Once near the car, he held the shoes in his hands waiting for them to send over the payment for all the merchandise via an online cash app. As he kept asking his parents if they had received the payment, the three in the car grabbed him by his hair and the shoes and accelerated down the street in their vehicle dragging the young Joaquin along until they turned the corner of the neighborhood block and released him. This all happened as Joaquin\u2019s father was chasing the SUV from behind and screaming to let go of his son.<\/p>\n

According to mom, she could hear something going on outside of the house, she looked outside and called 911 screaming that someone had just kidnapped her son. When mom and dad were finally able to catch up with their son, it was too late- he was not responding. Once at the hospital Mom was told that her son was in critical condition and \u201cvery sick,\u201d sadly, he soon passed.<\/p>\n

Mom is now using her voice to get her story out in one of the hardest interviews I have ever had to do. According to mom, Joaquin was \u201ca good kid, a truly good kid, that a lot of these younger kids looked up to\u2026 he had so many friends because these kids came from all around to play basketball in my backyard\u2026 and anybody who ever met him, they got a hug every time\u2026 all his friends were his best friends. He was truly the most respectful kid I\u2019ve ever known.\u201d Mom, Cynthia Garza, is now torn, her heart is broken, and her family is in pain. According to Mom, \u201cthey just don\u2019t know what they took.\u201d<\/p>\n

They took a life of a good kid, over a pair of shoes. And now a community, the Toledo\/Lucas County community, has lost not just one child but a total of four over a pair of shoes. This is also the same month and week when the City of Toledo\u2019s Police Department announced that they had also found 13-year-old Kei\u2019Mani Latigue\u2019s body in an abandoned house in East Toledo.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>La voz de una madre, el amor de una familia y la p\u00e9rdida de una comunidad<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Linda Alvarado-Arce<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joaqu\u00edn Romero Simmons, un estudiante de 18 a\u00f1os y en su \u00faltimo a\u00f1o de la preparatoria Woodward de las Escuelas P\u00fablicas de Toledo, estaba vendiendo un par de zapatos en Facebook Marketplace cuando tres j\u00f3venes interesados \u200b\u200ben los zapatos lo contactaron para comprarlos. Y los reunieron para verlos en el estacionamiento de la Universidad de Toledo. Una vez all\u00ed, los compradores en el auto le dijeron al joven Joaqu\u00edn que estaban interesados \u200b\u200ben los zapatos y preguntaron si ten\u00eda m\u00e1s art\u00edculos a la venta. \u00c9l dijo que s\u00ed, pero en su casa, y todos fueron all\u00ed a comprar el resto de la mercanc\u00eda.<\/p>\n

Siguieron a Joaqu\u00edn en su veh\u00edculo, se estacionaron frente de su casa en North Toledo y lo esperaron. Esta transacci\u00f3n ocurri\u00f3 al final de la tarde, cuando los padres de Joaqu\u00edn estaban en la casa. Seg\u00fan su madre dice, que Joaqu\u00edn entr\u00f3 en la casa, les habl\u00f3 y les pidi\u00f3 ayuda para reunir todas sus pertenencias para venderlos.<\/p>\n

Mientras se preparaba todo, el joven Joaqu\u00edn les llev\u00f3 un par de zapatos Balenciaga a los tres en el coche, con su padre observando y su madre dentro de la casa recogiendo el resto de las cosas. Una vez cerca del coche, sostuvo los zapatos en sus manos esperando que le enviaran el pago de toda la mercanc\u00eda a trav\u00e9s de una aplicaci\u00f3n de pago en l\u00ednea. Mientras segu\u00eda preguntando a sus padres si hab\u00edan recibido el pago, los tres en el coche lo agarraron del pelo y de los zapatos y aceleraron su veh\u00edculo, arrastr\u00e1ndolo hasta que doblaron la esquina de la cuadra y lo soltaron. Todo esto ocurri\u00f3 mientras el padre de Joaqu\u00edn persegu\u00eda la camioneta y gritaba que soltara a su hijo.<\/p>\n

Seg\u00fan la mam\u00e1, oy\u00f3 algo afuera de la casa, mir\u00f3 afuera y llam\u00f3 al 911 gritando que alguien acababa de secuestrar a su hijo. Cuando mam\u00e1 y pap\u00e1 finalmente lograron alcanzar a su hijo, ya era demasiado tarde: no respond\u00eda. Y en el hospital, le dijeron que su hijo estaba en estado cr\u00edtico y “muy enfermo;” lamentablemente, falleci\u00f3 pronto.<\/p>\n

Mam\u00e1 ahora usa su voz para contar su historia en una de las entrevistas m\u00e1s dif\u00edciles que he tenido que hacer. Seg\u00fan mam\u00e1, Joaqu\u00edn era “un buen chico, un chico verdaderamente bueno, al que muchos de estos ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os admiraban… ten\u00eda much\u00edsimos amigos porque estos chicos ven\u00edan de todas partes a jugar baloncesto en mi patio trasero… y cualquiera que lo conociera recib\u00eda un abrazo cada vez… todos sus amigos eran sus mejores amigos. Era realmente el chico m\u00e1s respetuoso que he conocido.” Mam\u00e1, Cynthia Garza, ahora est\u00e1 destrozada, con el coraz\u00f3n roto, y su familia est\u00e1 sufriendo. Seg\u00fan mam\u00e1, “simplemente no saben lo que se llevaron.” Le quitaron la vida a un buen ni\u00f1o por un par de zapatos. Y ahora, una comunidad, Toledo\/Lucas County, ha perdido no solo a un ni\u00f1o, sino a cuatro en total por un par de zapatos. Este mismo mes y semana, el Departamento de Polic\u00eda de la Ciudad de Toledo anunci\u00f3 que encontraron el cuerpo de Kei’Mani Latigue, de 13 a\u00f1os, en una casa abandonada en el este de Toledo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Mother\u2019s Voice, A Family\u2019s Love, and a Community\u2019s Loss By Linda Alvarado-Arce On March 29, 2025, Joaquin Romero Simmons, an 18-year-old Senior and soon-to-be graduate of Toledo Public Schools\u2019 Woodward High School, was selling a pair of shoes on Facebook Marketplace when three young men interested in the shoes reached out to him to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_rtcl_gb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[256],"class_list":["post-11403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Joaquin-1-copy.jpg",700,718,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Joaquin-1-copy.jpg",700,718,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Joaquin-1-copy.jpg",700,718,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Joaquin-1-copy-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Joaquin-1-copy-292x300.jpg",292,300,true],"large":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Joaquin-1-copy.jpg",640,656,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Joaquin-1-copy.jpg",700,718,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Joaquin-1-copy.jpg",700,718,false],"rtcl-gallery":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Joaquin-1-copy-700x462.jpg",700,462,true],"rtcl-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Joaquin-1-copy-320x240.jpg",320,240,true],"rtcl-gallery-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Joaquin-1-copy-150x105.jpg",150,105,true],"psacp-medium":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Joaquin-1-copy.jpg",487,500,false],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Joaquin-1-copy-45x45.jpg",45,45,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"LaPrensa Newspaper","author_link":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/author\/laprensa\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Articles<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"A Mother\u2019s Voice, A Family\u2019s Love, and a Community\u2019s Loss By Linda Alvarado-Arce On March 29, 2025, Joaquin Romero Simmons, an 18-year-old Senior and soon-to-be graduate of Toledo Public Schools\u2019 Woodward High School, was selling a pair of shoes on Facebook Marketplace when three young men interested in the shoes reached out to him to","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11407,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11403\/revisions\/11407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11403"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=11403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}