Gerson Rodriguez, 33

Died July 12, 2009 at 1:27 a.m.

Gerson Rodriguez was shot to death in the parking lot of a Burger King in the 1000 block of North Western Avenue in East Hollywood about 1 a.m. Sunday, July 12. It was his 33rd birthday, and his family had planned a small celebration for him later that day.

Rodriguez, a Latino, was born in Guatemala, and when he was a child he moved to the United States with his brother, sister and mother.

His father had died and his mother — who had previously lived in the U.S. — hoped to start a new life in California, said Evelyn Medina, 38, Rodriguez’s sister.

Rodriguez was raised by his mother and sister in their home in Sylmar. He attended Kennedy High School but left before graduating. He later earned a GED.

Medina said her brother then did odd jobs and took classes off and on at Mission College until enlisting in the Navy in his late twenties.

“He was having trouble finding himself, so he tried a bunch of things,” Media said. “He didn’t know what to do, so he joined the Navy."

Since his childhood Rodriguez had dreamed of joining the military. In Guatemala, Medina said, it is common for children to dream about becoming U.S. Marines, but she and her mother never imagined he would enlist. In fact, he kept his decision to join the Navy a secret from his family.

“We only found out about it on the day he left,” Medina said. If his mother and I "knew, we would have protested day and night.… Then I changed my mind. He became more like an adult rather than the child we used to pamper a lot.”

—Anthony Pesce

Dispatch: 'If that can happen to us it can happen to any other person'