nothin Rally Cry: Don’t Forget Mapa | New Haven Independent

Rally Cry: Don’t Forget Mapa

Courtney Luciana Photo

Wednesday’s march seeking answers about the homicide of Jorge “Mapa” Osorio-Caballero (pictured below).

Mapa called Deysi Santizo Bravo to say he was meeting a friend at the Mexican restaurant Mariscos El Pescador. He would come pick her up afterwards.

He never made it back.

Mapa — Jorge Osorio-Caballero — made that phone call to Bravo on Jan. 17. Thirty minutes later he was shot dead in his car at Grand Avenue and Lloyd Street.

Bravo, Mapa’s girlfriend of two years, told that story Wednesday afternoon as she joined 50 people calling for answers to why he was killed.

The group, organized by Unidad Latina en Acción (ULA), protested at the police station, then marched to the murder scene in Fair Haven.

Their main argument was that the murder of Yale graduate student Kevin Jiang received a lot more attention compared to Osorio-Caballero’s case.

It’s discrimination and indignation,” said family friend Abigail Tepale. Because he’s Latino and that means there’s no justice for the Latino people. We’re going to keep protesting.”

We never think that he was gonna die,” Tepale said. He was the best person. He was always happy and the kindest person. He was a hard worker. A people person.”

The police don’t call me or tell me anything,” Bravo said. They say there’s been an investigation and they can’t say anything about it.”

The police have been actively investigating the homicide, but haven’t received a lot of help from the public, according to Assistant Police Chief Karl Jacobson. He said people with direct knowledge of the shooting have not shared information with the cops. He asked anyone with information to contact detectives at (203) 946‑6304.

Bravo and Tepale said that their understanding is that Osorio-Caballero stayed at Mariscos El Pescador for roughly 10 minutes before leaving and then got shot while in his car. The crash then crashed into a commercial building on 337 Grand. Bravo and Tepale said they were not sure if there were any incidents inside of the restaurant (the restaurant also serves alcohol) that could have led to the shooting that night.

Bravo said that she thinks people might have witnessed the shooting and know who the shooter was but that no one wants to talk because they’re afraid to speak up. So far, no one has provided any information.

ULA members at rally.

John Lugo (pictured in center), founder of ULA, said that Jiang’s life was important because any death of a resident has an impact on the city, but the investigation of Osorio-Caballero deserves attention too.

Everybody keeps talking about that case and I think that’s good. The police are doing their job and they’re trying to find out who killed the student, ” Lugo said. But what about Jorge and what about the other people from the community who got killed? What about their families?”

Osorio-Caballero, 32, came to the U.S. from Mexico almost 20 years ago. He lived in Fair Haven and was a self-employed construction worker, sending money to his family in Mexico. During free time, he spent time with his loved ones, played soccer, and rode his motorcycle.

Uncle Jose Romero (on the left in the image above) told the crowd that Osorio-Caballero wasn’t the type of person to get into any trouble with other people or have any involvement in the streets.

Jorge was a good person,” his uncle, Jose Romero, told the crowd Wednesday. He had many friends and they’re all going to say the same thing. He didn’t like conflict. He worked really hard to support his family back in Mexico. He was always doing the right thing. And now we’re here asking the police and the mayor for some answers.”

Osorio-Caballero’s funeral took place in Mexico. To send Osorio-Caballero’s body back to Mexico cost the family $5,000. Lugo said that the family still owes $3,000 for funeral fees.

We might be starting a campaign soon to help raise the money,” Lugo said. It’s important to help raise some money for the family back in Mexico because the entire family was depending on the money that he was sending every week. It’s a tragedy.”

If you recall, we had a similar incident occur in Newhallville when Kaymar Tanner was shot and killed. He was not the intended target,” said Catherine CJ” Johnson, an organizer with Black and Brown United in Action and ULA, questioning whether Osorio-Caballero was the intended target. This speaks to the bigger problem that’s happening in New Haven.”

Uncle Jose Romero, ULA Founder John Lugo, and ULA member Alexis Garcia at police station rally.

Demanding justice for Mapa,” the rally transitioned to a caravan around the city.

Deysi Santizo Bravo (right) and family friend Lugo Roxana (left) rally for Jorge’s justice.


Justice for Jorge!,” the crowd shouted all the way over to the location of where Osorio-Caballero was shot on Grand Avenue.

Just because we don’t pay $60,000 to go to the university, they don’t care about us?” Lugo said. No! We live in this neighborhood. We work at this place. We pay taxes. We were here first! That’s why we’re here and we’re going to come back to this place.”

Alberto Miranda, a family friend, said that it’s unsettling for him that the homicide occurred early at night in a busy area like Grand Avenue.

Somebody saw what happened,” Miranda said. Nobody said nothing. Why? We just want justice. We want somebody to say something. This happened to us, and we don’t want this to happen again.”

Abigail Tepale, Lugo Roxana, and Deysi Santizo Bravo on the march.

The rally ended by the crowd marching down Grand Avenue and chanting, Whose streets? Our streets! Justice for Jorge!”

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