DREAM Act Portal Forum - Fellow AZ Dreamer and his father dead after 2 barge into home. RIP

The vigil might have passed already but I just thought this was such a tragedy. Thoughts and prayers go out to the Ocampo Family may their loved ones RIP. :(

http://www.azcentral.com/community/p...nclick_check=1

By Cecilia Chan The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News TeamTue Mar 12, 2013 6:59 PM

Quote:

Parish Ocampo dreamt big — he wanted to go to college and he wanted to one day live in France and have his own international business.

The 21-year-old instead was fatally shot in the predawn hours of Friday in his southeast Phoenix home. His father, Ulises Ocampo, 46, also was killed, Phoenix police said. The family dog also was shot but survived.

“He was a great young man with many dreams and aspirations,” said Don Jensen-Bobadilla, a family friend and Parish’s mentor. “He was always dedicated to helping others.

“I loved him as one of my children,” Jensen-Bobadilla told the media Tuesday at the AGUILA Youth Leadership Institute’s office at central Phoenix. “And my children loved him as a brother.”

Parish on his Facebook page, before it was taken down, lists Jensen-Bobadilla as a second father.

AGUILA, which helps Latino youth gain access to higher education, announced Tuesday that it has established a scholarship, Parish’s Promise, in memory of the young man who graduated from the program in 2009.

Jensen-Bobadilla said Parish, who returned to the non-profit organization to volunteer after his graduation, wanted to form a scholarship fund that would cover the $25 application fee for four applicants to the program for the upcoming academic year.

He said Parish was in the process of donating $100 but died before he could do so. An AGUILA board member have since stepped up and donated the $100, he said.

“This will give other students the opportunity to carry out what he wanted to be,” he said. “It’s bittersweet because he was taken away and he shouldn’t.”

Jensen-Bobadilla, an AGUILA board vice president and a program coordinator with the Maricopa County Community College District, said is was upset and wants justice.

“This is a senseless act that should have never had happened to a family that didn’t do anything wrong,” said Jensen-Bobadilla, who knew Parish since he was in middle school.

Parish, who graduated in 2009 from Arcadia High School in Phoenix, was a talented soccer player, bringing home medals and trophies, Jensen-Bobadilla said.

His father, Ulises, shared a passion for soccer and coached numerous Valley teams, he said. As he did with his sons, he instilled in the players the importance of being a good role model, he added.

Parish’s dreams were on hold after high school until about three months ago when he received his Social Security number and federal work permit under President Barack Obama’s so-called deferred-action program, Jensen-Bobadilla said.

The program offers a two-year, renewable reprieve from deportation for certain undocumented immigrant youth under 31, who came here as children, to live and work in the United States.

Jensen-Bobadilla said the documents enabled Parish to secure a job with a pharmaceutical company.

He said he last heard from Parish the day before he was murdered.

“He has been writing poetry and wanted to see if he could get someone to look at it and maybe publish it,” he said.

Jensen-Bobadilla said family members are still in shock.

“This is a tragedy,” Phoenix police spokesman Tommy Thompson said at Tuesday’s news conference.

Police said two masked men barged into the family’s home near 18th and Adams streets in Phoenix, shot the father and son and fled around 2:30 a.m. Parish’s mother and younger brother were in the home but hid from the intruders, police said.

Thompson said there is no motive for the killings by two masked men. The shooters fled without taking anything, police said.

Thompson said that it was possible the Ocampos were not the target and that the shooters may have been at the wrong place.

He said the family’s dog was shot after it went after the shooters. The dog’s action may have help saved other family members from being injured, Thompson said.

Thompson asked for the public’s help in finding the shooters.

One assailant is described as Black, 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 230 pounds, and wearing a black T-shirt, jeans and a bandana over his face.

The other shooter is described as Black, 6 feet tall, weighing 200 pounds, and wearing a black long-sleeved shirt, black pants and a ski mask covering his head. Both are believed to be carrying handguns, according to police.

Anyone who may have information about the shooting is encouraged to call the Phoenix Police Department at 602-262-6141 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS or 480-TESTIGO for Spanish.

A candlelight vigil will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m., Wednesday for Parish Ocampo at Civic Space Park, 444 N. Central Ave., Phoenix.