Family seeks justice for murder
Rose Pinson’s fiance, 24, gunned down
Tragedy, again, finds Rose
Ann Pinson.
The victim in the Nov. 2 shooting death on the 1800 block of Broadway Street was Gabriel “da Goonie” Mendoza, 24, according to his aunt, Miranda Stuart.
Mendoza, a Vallejo Senior High School graduate, was the fiance of Rose-Ann Pinson, sister of Rose Pinson — last seen May, 2016, and presumed dead after her alleged kidnapper was killed by law enforcement in Southern California.
Rose-Ann Pinson and Mendoza have a baby boy, Andres, born Oct. 7.
“Gabe was a great, loving son, sibling, fiancé, friend and mostly father,” Pinson said Thursday afternoon. “Gabe was never in trouble. He always helped anyone and everyone. If you needed your car fixed, he was there. Needed money or food? He gave it to you even if it was last.”
Mendoza, said his aunt, was kept on life-support for three days so he could be an organ donor.
Stuart, the sister of Mendoza’s mother, Theresa Brito, said Mendoza was on his first day of vacation from his union job and decided to go fishing at the waterfront with his friend.
“Some coward he didn’t know shot him one time in the head,” Stuart said in a Facebook posting Wednesday night.
“All Gabe did was help others and work to provide for his
family,” Pinson said. “When I first got with him a year and a half ago, I was in a very bad stage in my life. I was fighting real bad depression and when I got with him, he helped me heal, he showed me what a real man was, showed the real meaning of love.”
A few weeks before Mendoza died, “I went into labor and he was getting off work and the whole 48 hours he was sitting there telling me how he wanted to raise his son, how he wanted to teach him how to work on cars and bikes and learn how to drive,” continued Pinson. “The night before he passed, he was just having fun with his son and I. We planned on the day we were going to get married, planned on our son’s first birthday party. He was talking about what we were going to do on the holidays.”
Mendoza “left his beautiful baby boy who just turned five weeks ( Wednesday),” added Pinson. “Gabe was deeply loved by tons of people. He will never be forgotten.”
Stuart posted on Facebook that she was dismayed by the police investigation.
“To date, police have not found out any information,” Stuart said. “My understanding is they have not collected the video from the neighboring businesses. They have not returned calls or emails. They have not interviewed a witness who saw the vehicle speed by after they murdered my nephew. My nephew spent those hours on life support to save lives and the police don’t care about him.”
Mendoza, continued Stuart, “was not a gang member or a criminal. He was a good boy born in the wrong neighborhood.” She asked the community “to please find justice for my nephew. Don’t let his son grow up thinking no one cared his father was murdered.”
Vallejo Police Public Information Officer Brittany Jackson said Thursday that she received an email from Stuart this Monday “and responded to her directly with resource information along with the contact for our detective division. I also forwarded that email to the lead detective in this case.”
“The lead detective will reach out to the appropriate family members to provide updates on the investigation as they become available,” added Jackson. “I will also forward this particular email (Stuart’s Facebook post) to our detective division as well.”
Stuart started a GoFundMe campaign to pay for Mendoza’s funeral expenses. As of Thursday afternoon, it reached $8,300 by Thursday afternoon.
Vallejo City Concilmember and Mayor-elect Robert McConnell offered his condolences Thursday morning.
“My heart and prayers go out to all who are impacted by senseless violence and especially the stealing of a life in our community. I was able to attend the candlelight vigil and witnessed first-hand the grief and devastation of such stupid, and that is what they are, acts,” McConnell said.
Regarding the police investigation, McConnell added: “How the VPD does their job is beyond the control of elected officials as mandated by the city charter. As an elected official, anyone in that role must respect that requirement. Non- elected officials actually do have, and should have, more impact in this area. When and how information should be released is an excellent concern to be addressed by the citizen advisory group to the VPD. I hope they will do so and be in a position after listening to the survivors to make recommendations for changes in any policy procedures needed. As a community we can, and should, come together to address our needs.”
To contribute to the GoFundMe, visit www. gofundme.com/f/burial-costsfor-gabriel-mendoza.