Monday, April 6, 2015

Remembering East Village blast victim Nicholas Figueroa


[Image via Facebook]

Friends and loved ones filled the R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home in Washington Heights this afternoon to pay their respects to Nicholas Figueroa, 23, one of the two victims in the Second Avenue gas explosion on March 26

From the Post:

Nicholas Figueroa was the kind of man fathers would want to marry their daughters, his Scoutmaster said at his wake...

“He was very young, so motivated,” Luis Benitez said as services got under way. “He was a pillar of the community.”

From the Daily News:

"It's devastating," Neal Figueroa said. "There are no words adequate to describe my brother. This room speaks for itself. Look at all these people who have come to honor my brother."

From DNAinfo:

"He had all the love for everybody," his father, Nixon Figueroa said. "Everywhere he goes he gave a good smile, he brought life into people. He was a caring kid."

The funeral for Figueroa is tomorrow at the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, 207 W. 96th St., at 10 a.m.

Services for the second victim, Moises Ismael Locón Yac, 27, will reportedly be in his native Guatemala.

The East Village residents who launched a crowdfunding campaign to help with Locón's funeral expenses have been unable to track down any of his family members. If his family can't be found, then the money will be returned to the individual donors. The campaign has raised $6,361 in eight days.

Meanwhile, the NYPD is "poised to launch a homicide investigation" into the deadly blast, according to published reports.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is so sad, he seems like such a New York kid, just out on a date in the Village as so many of us have done. But you never think when you're going out on a date that you might never go home again.

Anonymous said...

My heart bleeds for these families...both men were so young, so beautiful, so kind. There are no words. May they find peace.