2 juveniles in custody for deadly shooting at Hillsboro house party
HILLSBORO Ore. (KPTV) - Hillsboro Police announced they have arrested two suspects in connection to a shooting at a party that left a 17-year-old dead and a 16-year-old in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. While authorities haven’t released the names of those involved since they are juveniles, the family of the 17-year-old who was killed say they are devastated after losing Chuy Copado Oropeza, known to many as Jesus.
“She said they can’t wrap their brains around it still,” said Guadalupe Guzman, translating for Juana Oropeza, Chuy’s mother. “This whole situation has been extremely impactful and devastating for them. They are going to have a lot of great memories that they can fall back on, but she says this has been extremely hard. Trying to understand what’s going on. They are still in some form of shock.”
On Tuesday, they held a vigil at their home in Hillsboro and shared memories.
“Her son was a really happy child,” said Guzman, translating for Oropeza. “He had a lot of goals and he tried really hard to accomplish them. He had a lot of goals for when he reached an older age. He wanted to work hard to help his parents. Very loving child, especially with his friends and his family. She said he was a really happy kid they are going to miss a lot. Always joking around, always laughing. He was always making everyone laugh.”
His family says Chuy loved to detail cars, hoping to one day open his own detail shop.
“She said he wanted to work beside his dad,” said Guzman, translating for Oropeza. “His goal was to grow up and be a hard worker to be able to help his family. She said it’s still really difficult to fathom that he is not around and they aren’t going to see him make it to that age or reach those goals.”
Ignacio Copado, Chuy’s father, says his son loved to laugh and make others laugh.
“He said that when it came to his friends, he was a big jokester and liked to play around, but when it came to his parents he knew when to be serious and when to take things serious,” said Guzman translating for Copado. “He feels deeply because he respected and loved his parents very much.”
Copado says he would bring his son to work with him to show him what it was like running your own business.
“He said he always liked detailing he cars and that was one of his big dreams,” said Guzman translating for Copado. “That was something his dad wanted to support him in one day owning his own business. He owns a landscaping business and he took him a few times so he could see what it was like. He said those are going to be some of his favorite memories with his son. He said he would really enjoying when his son would get calls from friends and he would tell them he was at work with his dad.”
“He was the best brother I could have had,” said Ignacio, Chuy’s brother. “Very hardworking. He would treat all of his friends like family. I will remember the best parts.”
As his family grieves, they have a message for their community.
“She said she would like the community to remember him as a young man who had big dreams,” said Guzman translating for Oropeza. “He was very loving, very caring. He was very generous with his friends. If they were short on money to buy something, he would say to not worry about it and to come eat with us. He would help them out. She said he was very charismatic. He just had an energy people liked to be around. He was a very happy person, very joyful.”
“He would like to tell them that this happened to them and with all the best advice they could give him, with all the best guidance they could give him sometimes children make different choices,” said Guzman translating for Copado. “He said he would like the community to hug their kids a little closer and to keep an eye on them, be on top of them, and do the best that they can.”
The family has a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral costs.
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