Special education teacher leaves behind wife, 1-year-old son after being shot, killed on LA Metro bus

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. - Cradling her 16-month-old son Elliot, Sarahi Varela Lopez remembered her husband, a fellow special education teacher, who was shot to death on a Metro bus last week in the City of Commerce.

"It was always his dream to be a father," Varela Lopez said through a translator. "He was a really respectful person, very smart. He was a know-it-all — he always knew about everything." 

"Everybody who met him knew him and loved him," she adds.

The family came to Southern California from Mexico on a tourist visa in October and were visiting family in Montebello. On Thursday, May 16, Juan Luis Gomez-Ramirez was riding a Metro bus on his way home from a job when Winston Apolinario Rivera allegedly sat down behind him, pointed a gun at his head, and pulled the trigger – killing him instantly.

"I’m angry," Varela Lopez said. "I don’t know anything about my husband — they won’t let me see him. And I don’t know anything about the person that killed him."

Rivera was eventually caught and has now been charged with murder. The victim’s family’s lawyer, Mario Acosta Jr., says it’s too little, too late, and more needs to be done to address the mayhem on Metro.

"I have some serious concerns about security," Acosta said. "It’s coincidental that on the same day Mayor Bass gives a press conference, you have a tragedy like this happen."

A memorial is growing on the Commerce street where the shooting happened. The family says they want answers and justice.

"With every day that passes, I feel more and more confused, like I don’t have any answers," Varela Lopez said. "I want him to be punished because he ended our family — he took away my husband."

An online fundraiser has since been launched to help the grieving family. Those looking to help the family can click here.