Family mourns victim of drive-by shooting

Juan Alameda, 27, will miss his wife’s smile.

He will miss her Spanish cooking.

He will miss her knowing exactly what is wrong when one of their children cries.

And the list continues.

“It’s going to be really hard, but I have to be strong for them,” said Alameda, pointing to his four children, Melanie Marie Ortiz, 12, Adrian Ortiz, 6, Gisila Alameda, 3, and Jaylen Alameda, 1½.

Known as a devoted mother, Melinda Gonzales, also known as Melly, was remembered Saturday morning by friends and family at an emotional 40-minute funeral at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Immokalee.

The 30-year-old was shot in the head in a drive-by shooting Tuesday night in front of her home on Peach Street in Immokalee.

Alameda, who dabbed away tears at times, sat in the front pew before the white casket to say a final goodbye. He carried Gisila and Jaylen, one in each arm.

More than 170 people, several wearing “In Loving Memory Melly, Forever in Our Hearts” white T-shirts and pins, filled the pews and passed the open casket.

Sniffles and sounds of sobbing echoed through the church.

This week has been filled with countless tears and sadness for relatives and friends.

The Rev. Onorio Benacchio of Our Lady of Guadalupe urged the overflow crowd to focus on the beauty of Gonzales’ life and the hope of the resurrection.

“Life is changing, not ending,” he told the crowd.

He read from the final book in the New Testament, Revelation.

Rev. Benacchio gave the family his condolences for her sudden death.

With such a devastating tragedy, her family and friends relied on their faith in God.

Moments before Tuesday’s drive-by gunfire struck a tree between the front yard of two families’ mobile homes, Gonzales had taken off her shoes to relax and start working on her scrapbook with her sister-in law, Denise Garcia, 23. They sat on the porch while watching their children play.

At about 8 p.m. Tuesday, Roberto Argueta and Henry Mancha drove by a home at 1304 Peach St., and Argueta allegedly fired shots into a crowd of people gathered in the front yard.

Both men have been arrested by Collier County sheriff’s deputies for their alleged involvement in the shooting.

Also shot was Hector Ramirez Jr., 18, who was struck in the ankle while sitting next to a tree. He was discharged from North Collier Hospital on Wednesday.

The motive for the shooting appears to be retaliation for an earlier scuffle involving Ramirez at Mancha’s home, authorities reported.

Family members, including Alameda, said they don’t blame Ramirez for Gonzales’ death.

Before leaving for the cemetery, Alameda showed his daughter, Gisila, her mother in the casket from the hearse.

Gisila wanted to see her mother one last time.

“I told her she was with the angels and Jesus and that she was sleeping,” said Alameda.

After the service, Gonzales was buried in Immokalee’s Lake Trafford Memorial Gardens cemetery.

Under a blue tarp outside, the family took seats a few feet away from the casket, then watched solemnly as Benacchio began the blessing.

As the heavy casket was put into the ground, family members’ and friends’ cries got louder.

“Mi hermanita,” Gonzales’s sisters cried.

“Ahí no mi hija,” Gonzales’s mother, Margarita screamed.

“My baby,” Alameda wept. For the burial, Alameda wore an “In Loving Memory Melly, Forever in Our Hearts” T-shirt.

Standing next to the casket, Bernie Martinez, a cousin of Gonzales, made a brief statement about her life and thanked family and friends for their support.

“Your spirit will live with us forever,” Martinez, 28, said before releasing a white dove overhead.

Martinez, of Immokalee, said believing the adage that time heals all wounds will take even more time, because her death was a tragedy.

In the past week, Alameda’s thoughts have also turned to his financial situation.

“It was hard before; it will be even harder,” said Alameda, who had been married for more than four years.

He wants to find a new house because of all the memories the current house has.

It will be difficult for the Immokalee community to donate money for the family because many people live in poverty, said Martinez.

But at least there is family support.

Alameda said he had family support before her death, but now the family’s support will grow stronger.

The state Crime Victims Fund contributed $5,000 toward the funeral and will provide the family an additional $2,500 for each of Gonzales’s children.

The family is planning to open a bank account at Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union for the children.

After guests had left, 15 relatives of Gonzales prayed around her grave, where more than 30 floral arrangements had been placed.

For the next nine days, the family plans to pray at the home of Gonzales’s grandmother, Helen Guerrero.