Family, friends of man killed in Lotaburger robbery celebrate his life with balloon release
Aug. 27—ESPAÑOLA — If he were alive, Cypress Garcia could have spent his 23rd birthday celebrating in a number of ways. His sister, Unique Peña, said her brother had planned to go to Florida to visit his best friend. His mother, Shada Garcia, said her son would have gotten a tattoo with his brother and spent time with family.
However, Cypress Garcia could not do any of those things Friday.
Ten days after he was shot and killed during a robbery at the Blake's Lotaburger in Española, Garcia's family and friends gathered outside the shuttered restaurant to commemorate him on his birthday.
However, when Peña and her younger brother Cyress Garcia planned a balloon release Friday, they could not have expected the lightning and pouring rain. But it had special meaning.
In that heavy downpour, Peña saw her brother.
"I think that he's crying for us right now," she said of the rain. "I think he knows how much we're all hurting for him and how much we love him."
Cyress said he saw the rain as his brother crying tears of joy for all the support he was receiving in death.
"He sees all of us here," he said. "It's kind of sad all of us got to get together at this time," without Cypress being there.
Once the rain began to subside, the people huddled near the Lotaburger filled the parking lot. Balloons of all colors and shapes were passed out among Garcia's loved ones. Some signified the colors of Cypress' favorite sports teams — his beloved Los Angeles Lakers and Green Bay Packers, his brother said — while others bore the shape of the number 23.
As people continued to get balloons and reminisce, a boom box started playing Wiz Khalifa's See You Again. The fast-food shop where Cypress' life ended transformed into a place of celebration and mourning for a life taken far too soon.
It may very well be the last function Española's Lotaburger will host. According to Google, the location where Cypress died Aug. 16 is now permanently closed.
Representatives from Blake's Lotaburger's corporate office did not respond to multiple requests for comment Friday.
Cyress, who worked at the location with his brother, said he wants the restaurant to be taken down and replaced with a new location.
"I hope it actually gets torn down ... because this place is so traumatizing and has so many memories for so many people," Cyress, 20, said. "I don't think people would want to come back."
During the event, surrounded by loved ones, Shada Garcia said she wished she could take her son's place in order to see her family be whole again.
"Cypress will never be replaced, ever," she said. "Our family is really torn up. Our friends are really torn up. It's just unimaginable."
Cypress' aunt, Brandy Peña Villa, said she was incredibly proud of Cypress and his siblings for everything they accomplished in life. She recalled how Cypress needed to take two years off from high school to grieve for his father, but still managed to go back and graduate in 2020.
"They went through so much hardship in their [lives]. I can't even tell you how bad the hardship was," she said. "To overcome what they did and become successful as him and Cyress are now, I'm severely proud of them."
Once the rain subsided, Cypress' loved ones released the balloons. Their ascent into the sky was paired with whistling, cheering and the honking of cars passing by.
"I know that he would want us to be happy and celebrating his birthday just like he would," Peña said. "We're all here to love him, and we all miss him dearly."
