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A Latino baseball coach, and aspiring artist is remembered after sudden death
The family gives thanks for the community's support though they say more help is needed.
By Ingrid Marie Rivera, La Prensa Correspondent
LORAIN: One Latino family is grateful this Thanksgiving for the community’s support after a baseball coach and aspiring musical artist was taken so suddenly from them.
Bryant Eddie Ortiz, 33, of Lorain, was killed in the early morning hours of Sept. 21, 2009 after arguing with another man at Ray’s Memory Lane Bar, on Pearl Avenue and the corner of 37th Street.
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Photos Courtesy of Videographer
Joseph Carrion |
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As the men were asked to leave the bar, the argument continued onto the streets and Ortiz was shot by an unknown man on the 1800 block of 37th Street. He was pronounced dead on the scene at 1:30 a.m. Ortiz is the fourth homicide victim in Lorain this year, and the total is now five.
His family and friends have said to be devastated with their loss but said they want to keep his memory alive.
“He was a very loving son,” said his mother Rachel Asencio, “[He was] very comical, loving, caring. I miss him very much. I love him very much...He was very loving, always on top of me, kissing me, worrying about me. [He] called me the bomb mom. I was his life...There is nothing that can replace him,” she said.
Asencio had seen the police cars near her street after coming home from her sister’s house that early Monday. She saw a stretcher with a body concealed with a blanket. But she went home, with hopes of finding her children safe at home. But she would receive a call later from a Lorain detective that would confirm her worst fears.
Ortiz had gone to the bar that Sunday evening to play pool with his brother, Mark Anthony Silva, who was visiting from New Jersey, his cousin Danny Rodríguez and Rodríguez’s wife.
Silva and Ortiz walked home after the Rodríguez pair drove home.
Family said Silva did not manage to see the shooter, but could tell the shot was directed at his brother. Silva held Ortiz in his arms during his final moments.
Danny Rodríguez, manager and coach of the Lorain Youth Baseball AMVETS team, said Ortiz had volunteered to coach the league for the first time this year and was looking forward to working with the young, adolescent kids next baseball season.
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“He brought a lot of fire to these kids. He always pumped them up and let them know even if they made an error, it's okay,” Rodríguez said “He was my first base coach and now, I'll look to the other side and I won't see him there. It’s going to be hard for these kids,” he said.
Alberto Otero, one of the boys on the team, said “He was confident and always called us champs. He would teach us things that we weren’t doing but he would teach it in a good way and fun,” he said.
Another boy on the team and Rodríguez’s son, Daniel “DJ” Rodriguez, 12, said “He showed me how to pitch and stance better.”
Ortiz was also pursuing a music career as a rapper. He had traveled to Florida in hopes of landing a contract but returned to Lorain.
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“His music was hard. He's the hardest rapper I know,” said his brother, Benjamin Stewart, “He showed me what I know right now as far as the rapping side...I love him. I miss him,” he said.
“I’ll see him in heaven though...That’s where my hope’s at right now with my brother,” Stewart said. “He’s alive right now. He ain’t dead to me. That's how I cope with it,” he said.
The family held a fundraiser on Nov. 7, 2009 to help pay for funeral costs and to support Ortiz’s three children, his son Andrew, 14 and daughters, Jazzlyn, 17 and Savannah, 8.
Jessica Cortez, a family friend, organized a vigil Nov. 9, 2009—the same day Ortiz would have turned 34.
Ortiz had a criminal record but his family and friends said he was trying to turn his life around.
Joseph Carrion, Ortiz’s childhood friend for roughly 20 years, said “He wanted to be with his kids no matter what problems were around here...he came back (to Lorain) for his kids,” he said.
Carrion, a videographer who has made two short films about Ortiz and plans to make more, said he wants people to remember all his good qualities and what he did for the kids on the baseball league.
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“He had so many talents but his biggest talent was his humor,” Carrion said “He brought me out of some sad times. I could depend on him. We would get into these deep conversations about faith, dreams and life. And because of just one small part of his life where he had struggles, I couldn't let him go out like that. I wanted to let people know who he really was,” he said.
Family and friends shared their memories of Ortiz at his vigil.
“My dad was my whole world. I miss him with all my heart,” said his daughter, Jazzylyn, “I’d be in a bad mood, and he always had something to say to make me laugh always,” she said.
Imam Paul Hasan, from Interfaith Ministries United in Peace led the vigil’s services and said “Even though Bryant lost his life, his life is just as significant, as important as the next person. Because even though the way he may have lost his life, God tells us that Jesus said that he without the first sin, let him cast the first stone, he said.
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Lorain County Coroner Paul Matus ruled Ortiz died of gunshot wounds. Lorain Police Detectives said they had a few leads but do not have suspects. The shooter remains at-large. Police and the Lorain County Prosecutor’s Office have raised the reward money from $2,000 to $5,000 to anyone who provides information leading to an arrest.
The family said they are grateful for the community’s support and now seek closure to his sudden, and tragic death.
“He was the most realest person you could ever think. He was the most liveliest character,” his brother Benjamin Stewart said “Every single day I think about him. He live inside of me right now. He’s not dead to me right now because I have no closure right now on my brother. He’s alive right now. He ain’t dead to me. That’s how I cope with it,” he said.
To help this family, make donations to “In Memory of Bryant E. Ortiz,” to the First Federal Savings of Lorain, 2233 E. 42nd Street, Lorain, Ohio, 44055.
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See La Prensa's video coverage of this online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7XWUf2K5v4
To hear Ortiz's music, see Videographer Joseph Carrion's video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttuqDz6Gl2A
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