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Coral Gables High tragedy: Reflections from an Alum
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Coral Gables Senior High School
I want to reflect upon an incident that happened at my old Alma Mater on September 15,2009.
From 1999-2003, I attended Coral Gables Senior High School. If you've watched the news at all lately, you probably already know what I am about to write about: the stabbing death of 17-year old Cavalier, Juan Carlos Rivera.
I was at work the morning of his murder when I overheard two coworkers talking:
"Did you hear about the shooting at Coral Gable High?"
"Yeah, I heard there's like 4 kids dead and a crazy teacher did it!"
"No way! I heard it was a gang fight between the Blacks and Hispanics!"
It is amazing how rumors get started, and I am not sure how any of the information they were giving each other had even come about. I decided to call my brother, who attended Coral Gables High as well from 2002-2006. He told me what was really going on.
Details were sketchy at the time, but he knew that there had been a stabbing and that a young man was dead. He also knew they had not found the assailant yet, or were at least not releasing who he or she was.
I went home at lunchtime and watched the news. By that time, more information was slowly being released. Juan Carlos Rivera, a Cuban-native that had just barely stepped foot into this country, had been stabbed to death by another student, who was almost immediately found hiding at a nearby Coral Gables residence.
Later on, more information... footage of this rather "normal-looking" 17-year old kid, handcuffed, head down with defeat being paraded by the cameras into the police station for questioning.
As it all unfolded, I became rather obsessed with the entire situation. I cried for the loss of a life of someone I had never known. I cried for the loss of the future of a student who made the worst decision of his young life that day. I cried for the families of both boys, who would now have to live with the aftermath of this tragedy. And I cried for Coral Gables Senior High School. My father and uncle both graduated in 1973. My cousins, brother and I all graduated within the last 10 years. All of us, happy, healthy, thriving Cavaliers. Never had there been an incident of violence even in the near vicinity of the magnitude of this murder. Never had any of us ever felt unsafe within the walls of CGHS. Now, this may be all the school is remembered for.
Andy Rodriguez. 17-years old.
This is the student who is suspected of killing Juan Carlos Rivera. As reported by the Miami Herald, Rivera's autopsy showed that he was stabbed five times by with a three-inch blade. One blow to his heart, and one to his lungs were the fatal wounds.
Andy Rodriguez has pled Not Guilty to the charges, despite the fact that many students witnessed the entire incident. Sophomore, Felix Cedeno, saw the fight and even ran to help the dying Juan Carlos Rivera. Other classmates have claimed to know the fight was over a girl.
Rodriguez's mother has been very public about her son not being responsible for the murder. She has said that Rivera had been taunting Rodriguez for weeks and had basically brought the fight on himself.
With all due respect to that reasoning, we were all taunted in high school.
And in the courtroom earlier this month, the judge decided that Rodriguez will be charged as an adult. His family, visibly devastated; Rodriguez himself shed a tear and blew his loved ones a kiss.
Juan Carlos Rivera's mother was given a Humanitarian Visa to come to Miami from Cuba for her son's funeral. His father flew in from Spain where he currently resides. Undoubtedly, they would have loved to have their son blow them a kiss too.
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