Freddy Salinas and his fianc√©e had just begun building a life in America when he was gunned down for coming to the aid of a friend. Now his family’s scrounging together money to send his body home.
Salinas (pictured), 27, made the long haul to the U.S. from Ecuador a year and a half ago.
He lived in a Ferry Street home with his fianc√©e, Silvia, who’s 21. During the days, Silvia minded their five-month-old baby while Freddy worked as a roofer. They came from the mountains of Ecuador, where there was no work and not much to eat.
“We were looking for a better future here,” said Silvia. At a table in an empty restaurant late Thursday afternoon, Silvia told how her dreams became undone.
“I never thought this would happen,” she said in Spanish. Wearing a gray T‑shirt, she spoke softly and looked down at her hands.
Silvia came from Sigsig, a village in a valley in the southern Andes. Her father and sister moved here, and she and Freddy followed, at a price. The journey landed the couple $30,000 in debt, debt they were chipping away at each week, sending his roofing money home to her mom.
They lived in a two-story house on Ferry Street, a block away from a clump of Ecuadorian stores that serve as a hub for a tight community.
Monday night, their first-floor neighbor, Ricardo León, stepped out of the house to go to the corner store for some medicine, Silvia said.
While León was out, a man lurking around the area noticed he was carrying a wad of cash. The man slipped into the house and hid behind the front door.
“When he came back, he grabbed him like this,” said Ivan Astudill (pictured), Silvia’s roommate, demonstrating a chokehold. The robber demanded cash. León got hit on the head with a gun and fell to the ground.
“Pap√°!” cried León.
Salinas recognized the voice as one of his good friends. (“They were like brothers,” Astudill said.)
Salinas ran down the stairs to help.
When the robber saw him, he shot Salinas in the torso.
Astudill heard a gunshot and saw his friend Freddy, doubled over, come into the kitchen. “There was a hole in his chest.”
Ivan lay his friend down and called 911. The wait for the ambulance felt like “forty minutes.” His skin was turning pale.
At the hospital, Salinas was pronounced dead at 11:30 p.m.
The Journey Forward
Silvia said she didn’t know many people in Fair Haven, but she never felt afraid living in this community. They were making a life here.
Now, Silvia said, “I don’t know how to go on.”
After the “impossible” trip of trekking here across the border, ending up drowning in debt, she said there’s no way she’s going to leave the U.S. But she does want her husband to have one last trip to Ecuador.
“The only thing I want is for them to help me send him home,” Silvia pleaded.
Silvia said it would take several thousand dollars to send his cadaver back home. Ecuadorian merchants have been taking collections on behalf of the family, reports La Voz Hispana. Donations are being accepted at Cositas, Musicales y M√°s at 549 Ferry St., or at this number: (203) 393‑6055.