Crime & Safety
Santa Monica Victims: Carlos and Marcela Franco
The two were shot in an SUV near a Santa Monica College parking lot on June 7. The daughter, Marcela, was taken off life support two days later.
Messages and candles for two victims of Fridays shooting rampage continues to grow near Santa Monica College. The makeshift memorial marks the area where a father and daughter were both fatally shot in an SUV by a gunman on Friday, June 7.
Marcela Franco, a 26-year-old Cal State Dominguez Hills student, died Sunday with her family by her side at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Her father, Carlos Franco, was killed instantly as the two were in his SUV near Santa Monica College's parking lot No. 1 on Friday. Carlos Franco was a groundskeeper at Santa Monica College.
A prayer service was held Sunday at St. Anne's Catholic Church to honor the Francos, where they were longtime members.
"This parish has been part of our family for 40 years," a family member said during the service. "It's not just this family, it's the community, the students that need our support."
Family members spent a two-day vigil at the hospital before coming to the painful decision to take Marcela off life support when she did not regain consciousness Sunday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
She was studying to be a clinical psychologist and decided to take courses at SMC, where her father worked, to finish her credits.
"As a campus community, our thoughts, prayers and sympathies are with the Franco family and all the victims and families affected by this senseless act of violence," CSUDH President Willie J. Hagan said Monday. "Finding the right words or actions to express the most heartfelt response to such unthinkable tragedy is not easy, but given Marcela's direct ties to CSU Dominguez Hills, our hope is this gesture from the university community can in some way help her loved ones during this difficult time."
According to the university, Marcela Franco transferred to CSUDH last fall from West Los Angeles College and was involved in the Campus Food Pantry Program. She was a member of the Campus Alcohol Awareness Coordinating Team. In April, she attended the CSU Alcohol and Other Drugs Conference.
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She was also a member of the university's chapter of the Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology.
Marcela was Carlos' youngest daughter. He was a dedicated husband and father and an integral part of the Santa Monica College family, said President Chui L. Tsang on Saturday. Carlos' dedicated work to the campus grounds for 22 years was enjoyed by students and visitors for two decades."Carlos was a very, very hard worker," said Tom Corpus, his supervisor. "He loved his job. He tried to make people happy and make sure he did the best job he could. He was all about his job. He was just a great asset to the college. Everything Carlos did was for the college and for his family."
The afternoon Carlos died, he was on his way with Marcela to meet his oldest daughter, Leticia, for a doctor's appointment.
"Every time I visited him, he would talk about his daughters and his family," said his nephew Mario Franco, a member of SMC’s Workforce and Economic Development Department. “He was a big family man. Everything he did was literally for his daughters."
The death of Carlos and the injuries to Marcela were not the first tragedy to strike the Franco family. Carlos' son died two summers ago in a car accident.
Corpus said Carlos' immediate family includes his wife, Ramona, who works at Saint John’s Hospital Child Study Center, and his daughters, Leticia and Marcela.
Carlos’ extended SMC family includes nephew Mario Franco, Student Services Specialist Sandra Franco and Board of Trustee Member Margaret Quiñones-Pérez.
Memorial funds have been set up for Marcela and Carlos.
Did you know Carlos and Marcela Franco? Tell us about the family in the comments.
- City News Service contributed to this report.
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