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A chorus of voices rose this weekend, however, after word spread that the man known as “Rei” -- Ravel Trejo -- had been gunned down outside a city shopping center.
Trejo, 32, who worked as a pharmacy tech at the CVS on Union Boulevard in Totowa, was "a cool dude, a down-to-earth person,” wrote friend Mel Taylor.
“He wasn’t with that goofy s**t," Taylor said.
“He wasn’t with that s**t at all,” Destinee Corina added. “That’s what makes me so mad!”
Nat Gonzalez agreed.
Trejo, he said, “wasn’t involved in anything statistics say about gun violence or gangs. He wasn’t a part of anything dangerous. He was the opposite.
“He was such a genuine kind soul,” Gonzalez added. “Rei was a powerful person when it came to spreading love, positivity and truth. He didn’t care where you came from. He was that bright star that shared his shine with everyone.”
Congressional candidate Billy Prempeh said he’d known Trejo since high school.
“He's always been a good person who got along with just about anyone,” Prempeh noted.
Responding police officers and medical personnel tried in vain to revive Trejo after finding him mortally wounded on a West Broadway sidewalk shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday. (Story continued below.)
Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Chief Ibrahim Baycora, in announcing the homicide on Sudnay, didn’t say whether a suspect had been arrested or identified.
Gonzalez said Trejo’s death shouldn’t be ignored.
“It speaks VOLUMES about how unregulated guns are in our city of Paterson,” he said. “[Trejo] was walking home. He didn’t deserve it. Not him. Not this soul.”
Gonzalez called on elected officials to at last do something to stem the escalating gun violence in the Silk City.
“Just like innocent children’s lives have also been taken in our city, we cannot just let these angels go,” Gonzalez said. “Our community needs to work together to remove these illegal guns.”
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SEE ANYTHING? Two Passaic County sheriff's correctional officers were struck by a hit-and-run driver while heading to work early Sunday.
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