Frankie Joseph Velasquez, 20

May 6, 2012

Frankie Joseph Velasquez, a 20-year-old Latino male, died Sunday, May 6, after being shot in Boyle Heights, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.

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22 reader comments

My Dear Son Frankie, I miss you so much I love you !! I feel so empty without you. Everything has changed since you left including me. I know you are in a much better place I know you are with GOD but my heart has forever been broken and each day that goes by without you feels like the day I was told there was nothing else that could be done for you. Saturday March 19th was your 24th birthday it saddens me that we have to go celebrate your birthday at a cemetery. A black & yellow butterfly flew by I knew it was a sign from you letting me know you're always with me. You are my Angel .... I tell my broken heart that you are still with me although you're in heaven. I Love You very much. Baby Frankie tells me "Thank You Mami" just like you would it amazes me how he does so many things like you.
Love you my sweet handsome son

— Love You, Mom March 21, 2016 at 3:46 p.m.

Close Friend,
So what does your statement say about Frankie? He moved to a house according to you where drugs and drinking were done right out in the open on the front porch! Your words right? So what does that say about the way Frankie was raied? Not too good of a job, right? Next time you point the finger of shame remember that there are three fingers of shame pointing right back at you. May be you should have told his mother what a bad job she did in rasing her child and may be if she had done a better job of making sure Frankie was his own individual rather then just a face in the crowd this whole discussion wouldn't be necessary. After all it was her great job as a mom that lead him to think that drugs and drinking out on the front porch was cool.

And remember when pointing the finger of blame....

— ELA born and rasied Aug. 21, 2013 at 2:56 p.m.

They way you dress represents who you are unless you have strict uniform requirements. If a man walks . Outside in a dress or a tutu we all make our judgments based on appearance just as we would a girl looking very masculine, someone dressed very conservative, sloppy, slurry, dirty, etc. So dressing like a gang banger would be no different. If you don't want to be viewed as a thug or gang banger then don't dress like one.

Strippers and gang bangers are the easiest to point out by their clothing. They aren't wolves in sheep's clothing for sure.

I totally understand how hard it is to accept the fact that your loved one was living a double life because some do it well, but some can't see past loving eyes when everything is out in the open looking you in the face. Denial is real. My prayers go out to all who have lost but especially the mother's and the fathers who really were a, part of their children's life.

— fa la la la la la la la Aug. 15, 2013 at 3:09 p.m.

Frankie was always very respectful, quite, thoughtful, responsible and very loving. He graduated from High School and had just moved out his parents home because he thought he was in love & about to be a father, his so called girlfriend didn't like living at Frankie's house it was too quite no one was selling drugs or drinking on the porche, so he moved to Boyle Heights only to be killed a couple of months after. He was walking o the store he his girlfriends cousin when the heartless SOB shot him!! Yes, he was wearing a Dodger jersey Levi's & Jordans but that doesn't make him a gang member !!! He loved sports especially the Steelers, Dodgers & Lakers. There's allot of guys that dress like that and not all of them belong to gangs. The animal that took Frankie from us also took a part of his mother father brothers & sister that family will never be the same. He left behind a little boy that will never get to see what a wonderful father he has. Gangs get away with so much because people that live in those areas and see things don't report it to the police there's so many ways to report what you see now and they stay quite. People on Gless & Pecan St Seen because they're willing to tell us but not the Det. it's just plain sad. Give this Family some closure lets help them start grieving for their Frankie. Allot of these comments are very hurtful and people that make them don't know anything about the victims. Victims were someones child father mother sibling

— Close Friend Aug. 10, 2013 at 5:45 p.m.

@Mack as harsh as your statement sounds I have to agree, dead gang bangers and drug related crimes should take a back seat and clear the murders of the innocent, the ones minding their business sitting at a bus stop the ones getting up early every morning to drive to work or school. But instead we have these families and friends claiming that their child or friend I was never involved in gangs when it's obvious they were, people can lie to us the readers but they can't lie to themselves they know who they are and if their dead because of gang banging that's too bad, they knew better, and someone will comment well no one deserves to be murdered gang banger or not, your right no one deserves that, however that is the gang life they kill or be killed, the ones that don't deserve it are the innocent.

— James July 21, 2013 at 3:24 p.m.