Businessman’s widow touched by violence before
Murder has twice touched the life of the wife of a hardware store owner slain during a robbery attempt Tuesday, a longtime family friend says.
“It’s crazy, we just can’t believe it,” said Angel Serrano, whose father, store clerk Geraldo Serrano, was gunned down in a 2010 robbery at the Hermanos Unidos bodega in Roxbury where Andres “Cholo” Cruz’s wife was working. “His wife was in the store when (Serrano) got shot.”
Cruz, 58, was shot to death Tuesday during what police say was a robbery of his Tremont Street store, a business he worked years to build.
The case is eerily similar to the murder of the 71-year-old clerk in 2010, which shocked the city at the time.
“The way he was killed, it’s just a flashback to the whole situation,” Serrano said, referring to his father’s murder. “The family is very hurt.”
Cruz, who is originally from Puerto Rico, came to the U.S. more than three decades ago when he was in his 20s, Serrano said. He had been married to his wife, Rosita Martinez, for about 15 years.
Serrano said the slain hardware store owner reminded him of his own father in that he was hard-working, humble, loved by the community and always willing to help others when he could.
“We have lost another good friend, a brother,” Serrano said, referring to Cruz. “We have good memories, every memory is going to be a good memory with him. He was a great, great guy.”
Just as in the 2010 murder, three suspects have been arrested and charged with killing the beloved store owner. One of the three suspects in the Serrano case is set to be tried for the killing after seven years of legal delays and a hung jury earlier this year.
Angel Serrano said he would be keeping in close contact with Cruz’s family as they begin the legal ordeal.
“We are really hurt,” Serrano said, noting he met Cruz 35 years ago and has been close with him ever since. “Knowing him that long, we essentially treat him like he’s a brother or an uncle.”
Serrano said he last saw Cruz two weeks ago at a neighborhood bar on Dudley Street where Cruz was a regular.
“I went in to have a beer and chatted with him for a while,” Serrano said.
“He was the kind of guy, would stand in the corner, look around, laugh, smile, say hi to everyone,” he said. “When he was ready to leave, he would leave. By the time you said ‘Where’s Cholito?’ he was home already.”