Memorial Held For UTEP Student Killed In Juarez

For the first time, we’re hearing from the family of a UTEP student killed just south of Juarez.

Alejandro Ruiz Salazar was shot to death alongside Jorge Pedro Gonzalez Quintero – a former UTEP student – on Sunday.

At a memorial service on campus Thursday, Alejandro’s brother reflected on why the young man was in Juarez, in spite of the violence.

“Who could have imagined it?” he asked.

“It was – what – five o’clock in the afternoon! It was basically plain sight.”

When Leonel Ruiz got the call that his younger brother was gunned down, he could not believe it.

Ruiz Salazar and Gonzalez Quintero were killed as they drove back from a scouts trip Sunday – equivalent to the Boy Scouts in the United States.

“Maybe someone else had gotten shot,” he remembered thinking.

For professors and students gathered at an on-campus memorial service Thursday, the reality is still tough to accept.

“(Alejandro) cared for every single person that was around him,” his brother said.

But even so, given the violence in Juarez, why did Alejandro continue to make those scouting trips?

“We never thought it would happen to us, especially because we’re healthy kids,” Leonel explained.

Imagine, he said, if hurricanes started pelting El Paso.

“Even though we’d be having hurricanes every two or three days, you wouldn’t believe it. You’d think of the peaceful El Paso, where every time it rained everybody just went out for it.”

While tears were all that fell at this memorial, Leonel hopes people continue to volunteer in Juarez.

“My brother used to say – we are not to live in fear,” Leonel said.

He plans to go back to Juarez and keep assisting the scouts.