At the end of July 2020, it made headline news when 38-year-old Oren Velasquez, a community-minded businessman and entrepreneur from Ladyville, was murdered in an armed robbery of his pizza parlor, Breda O's.
The community mourned with his family that this model citizen's life was senselessly cut short. The thieves almost killed a 14-year-old son in the process, and for all that pain and suffering, they only got away with a paltry $200 dollars, the business sales for that day.
For 2 and a half months, his pizza shop remained closed, but last night, a few of his long-time customers were excited to see the iconic "Breda O's" sign light up once again. His family has decided to continue the business and his legacy, and today, our news team visited them on day 2 of their reopening.
Daniel Ortiz has that story:
Ever since Oren Velasquez was shot and killed 10 weeks ago, his family enterprise, Breda O's Pizza, had been shuttered.
But yesterday, his loved ones and his staff teamed up with his widow to reopen for business. For the employees, the need for work in these harsh COVID times was one of the key motivators to push for continuation.
Emelda Velasquez - Wife of the Deceased
"The staff, because of the COVID-19 and everything, everybody is short on jobs and stuff like that. Knowing my husband, he always thinks about the staff because they are part of the family. They asked if they could. They need a job, and they know my condition and everything that I am in, but they really need a job. They say that they'll take over, so I just came to assist them, to show them what to do, and what not to do. I won't be here for a long while because of the situation I am in."
That situation is that Velasquez is 5-months pregnant with twins who will never get to meet their dad. Combine the pregnancy, the extreme struggles that have come with the pandemic, and the emotional burdens tied to Oren's murder, and one can easily understand how her resilience is being harshly tested.
Emelda Velasquez
"When I am pregnant, I am sick for the entire 9 months. That's why I wasn't here when my husband passed away - when he got shot because I can't work in the condition. It's kind of rough, especially how I have my 2 children at home with online schooling, who need my help. Then, I have to be here, and then be at home at the same time. It's really hard, and then taking care of myself and my unborn children that I am having right now."
"I just think that they shorted my husband out of his entire life, out of our life on a whole, [and] especially out of his unborn children's lives, who will not get to know him. But, we'll always keep on his legacy, going as long as I am here, and his children because we always moved as a pack, him, me, and the 2 children."
Despite these hardships, Breda O's wife says that her family wants to see his dream of being an entrepreneur live on.
Emelda Velasquez
"I will try to manage it out because I know this is his dream, and I want to see his dream come through."
Reporter
"Have you guys had any sort of changes, any new security features to try to be safer?"
Emelda Vasquez
"Yes, we do have new security features. We have 2 security [guards] in the night, and we have our own surveillance cameras. We'll try to put more lights around the area, and try, as we get a little finance, we'll try and improve stuff where needed."
"I know that this is what we wanted. This is his dream. The shop over there, that was supposed to open up at the end of this year. We worked so hard to try and reopen over there so that we could have more time for ourselves. I will, his family, and my family, we put our heads together, and we said that it will happen because that's what he wanted."
At this time, no arrests have been made in connection with Velasquez's murder. His wife tells us that he died not knowing that he was going to be a father to twins. The couple wanted to be surprised, and so, they did not even attempt to find out the sex of their unborn baby - back when they were under the impression that it was only one baby on the way.
