Family of man killed in robbery mourns loss

Aug. 19—ESPAÑOLA — Unique Peña and her late brother, Cypress Garcia, were the only ones to regularly visit their grandmother's grave. When they went to visit recently, Peña said they found a candle had broken open on Rose's gravestone.

At that moment, Cypress took his shirt off his back to clean up the mess.

"My grandma needs her grave clean," Peña, 27, recalled him saying, as she fought through tears. "He was always just so loving."

Cypress Garcia was shot and killed Tuesday night while working his shift at Blake's Lotaburger in Española. He was 22.

His death — which police say came at the hands of Ricky Martinez Jr. during a string of armed robberies — has torn Garcia's family and friends apart.

"He was a really big part of my life," Peña said. "He was basically like a son to me because my mom was never here. So I pretty much raised him."

Prior to the shooting Tuesday, Garcia and his brother Cyress Garcia were working a regular night shift at the local Lotaburger. Cyress Garcia's girlfriend, Victoria Lopez, had dropped by to wait for her boyfriend's shift to end.

However, Lopez said she had heard of an armed robber running loose in the city and called her cousins to join her. As they waited in the parking lot, the trio caught up with the Garcia brothers.

"We were all laughing together. ... We just had a good moment," she said.

Then, Lopez said she showed Cypress Garcia a picture of Martinez. She warned him Martinez had been getting away with robberies throughout the city, but Cypress said it wouldn't happen to them.

"That was like the last thing I showed him, it was a picture of this guy," she said. "He was so optimistic nothing would happen to him. He thought he was protected — that he wouldn't ever get hurt."

A little while later, Martinez is suspected to have walked into the fast-food shop and taken Cypress Garcia's life.

Lopez said his brother tried to save him but couldn't. Cypress died in Cyress' arms.

"I'm just so hurt. I don't know why this guy was so angry," Cyress Garcia said. "I would've give him the cash just to save my brother's life."

Cyress Garcia said it is a miracle he is alive. He said Martinez shot at him too but missed. The 20-year-old said he then tackled his brother's shooter to save his co-workers.

"I just keep thinking of the moment. I'm just thinking of future therapy I can go to because I'm just so messed up," he said. "I don't know how I'm not going to live with this pain. It's so hard."

Cyress Garcia remembered his brother as someone who loved life. He said his brother loved to travel, always took care of his family and — just like he did for his late grandmother — would take the shirt off his back in order to make sure someone else didn't get wet in the rain.

"I just tried being there for him, and I showed him everything, and he showed me everything," Cyress Garcia said. "He is the biggest brother I can have."

The Garcias have been through a lot in the past couple of years. Their father died in 2016, which Peña said affected Cypress Garcia in particular.

"He lost a lot of life out of him because my dad was his best friend," she said. "He stood by my dad's side all the time."

Following his death, Peña said her brothers were taken in by the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families department. Due to her age at the time, her siblings went to live with one of their aunts.

Once they were old enough to decide where they wanted to be, Peña said her late brother moved in with her. She said her mother and older siblings were on drugs and couldn't be there for her younger brothers.

"All my brothers really had was me, and my grandma Rose [and] my grandpa Ted," she said.

Their grandfather died soon after their father, Peña said. Two-and-a-half years later, their grandmother died. Cypress had been staying with his grandmother for a while, she added. After her passing, Peña said she asked Cypress to stay with her.

From then on, Cypress Garcia was a constant presence in the lives of his nephews — including Peña's son, she said.

"He took care of him [and] was a big role model in his life," Peña said. "He took him to school, picked him up, did everything with him, took him to concerts [and] encouraged him to do good."

She said this was a huge help while she had to go to work. Now, with his death, Peña said a big part of her life is gone.

"I mean, he made everything happen," she said. "I'm just going to be so empty without him."

The primary suspect in Cypress Garcia's death was apprehended Tuesday at an apartment complex in Santa Fe. He was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service, according to Juan Ríos, a spokesman for the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office.

Española Chief of police Mizel Garcia said his department reached out to the FBI and the Marshals Service after Martinez was suspected in three armed robberies in the span of three days.

Martinez was accused of robbing a Dandy Burger restaurant at about 8:04 a.m. Aug. 9, a Shell gas station at about 5:40 p.m. Aug. 10 and a Walgreens at about 9:33 p.m. Aug. 11, according to an affidavit for his arrest filed Wednesday in Rio Arriba County Magistrate Court.

On Wednesday, the chief said Martinez is now a suspect in seven recent armed robberies throughout Española and two elsewhere — one in Santa Fe and the other in Taos.

Garcia said he could not disclose information on the other robberies due to Martinez being in federal custody and will soon be facing federal charges.

In regards to the robberies outside of Española, Taos police Detective Fidel Cordova said Chalupp's Pizza was subject to an armed robbery on the afternoon of Aug. 14. He added his department has a suspect in mind, and the robbery could be related to the string of robberies Martinez is accused of. However, he could not confirm Martinez as their suspect.

Deputy Chief Ben Valdez of Santa Fe police could not be reached for comment regarding the Santa Fe robbery.

As for keeping Española safe, Chief Garcia said he wishes law enforcement could have caught Martinez before Cypress Garcia's death. However, he emphasized the interdepartmental search which had been taking place prior to Tuesday's shooting, and said the incident will not prevent his department from continuing its path of improvement.

"This was probably the most tragic event that I've had to deal with in a long time, but it doesn't change the direction we're going," Garcia said of his department.

In the wake of Cypress Garcia's death, Peña's friend, Esperanza Trujillo, started a GoFundMe page to help his family through this tough time. As of Thursday, the online fundraiser has far surpassed its initial $5,000 goal — reaching over $14,000.

"The world's full of so much negative," Trujillo said. "To see the positive come through, and the support for [the Garcias], it's just more than I could ever ask for."

Cypress Garcia's sister said she was amazed by the outpouring of support her family has received in the past couple of days.

"I'm so thankful for everybody who has supported us through this hard time," Peña said. "I really thank everybody in New Mexico, and all over the world, for knowing how much this means to me. ... My brother was a big part of our life."