Family, friends honor Luis Martinez
A girl lights a candle during a vigil for Luis Martinez, 18, of Moses Lake, at Knolls Vista Park Friday.
MOSES LAKE - Glass candle holders and T-shirts showing images of a smiling Luis Martinez, 18, reminded family and friends of their loss Friday.
Martinez was shot at a Soap Lake home Thursday and later died on the way to a Wenatchee hospital.
On Friday night, about 100 people gathered for a candlelight vigil at Knolls Vista Park in Moses Lake.
People were hugging each other and wiping away tears before they walked through town in a long, straight line.
One of Martinez's friends, Giovanni Walker, of Moses Lake, spoke to the group before they left the park.
"All of you guys out here are young," Walker said. "I don't care if you're gang members or preps. You don't want your parents to outlive you."
"We can say we did love him," Walker said. "He was our guy and he meant the world to us."
Martinez's cousin, Maria Zepeda, said Martinez had been attending a party in Soap Lake and didn't know the shooting suspects.
She understands an argument may have taken place, but doesn't know much else, she said.
Two other family members of Martinez's were also at the party, she said.
Zepeda, 21, of Moses Lake, was close to her cousin. She lived with Martinez and his family until a few months ago.
"We were pretty close," she said. "I thought of him as a brother."
He loved fishing with his dad and brother-in-law.
He attended Columbia Basin Secondary School in Moses Lake and recently completed his GED diploma at WorkSource.
His parents are Norma Zepeda and Efrain Martinez, both of Moses Lake, she said.
"It's pretty rough," Maria Zepeda said. "We haven't had a death in our family. We have no experience of how to set up a funeral or bury someone."
Family members are traveling to Moses Lake from California and Mexico to "support us and try to get through this."
She expects they will hold the funeral this week.
A bank account to help the family with funeral expenses was opened at Bank of America, 103 E Third Ave., Moses Lake.
The account is under the name "Beatriz Ramirez" and the account number is 5314700718.