NVR Logo
$10 and a cell phone
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Save and Share Share
A cell phone and $10.

For that a life has been lost, the life of 16-year-old Napa resident Jesus Tornero.
A family is devastated.

Students at Napa High School are grieving.
A community has had its sense of safety dissolve into the haze of random violence.

A street corner has a wreath to memorialize a soul that was down here with us just a few short hours ago.
All that loss, for $10 and a cell phone.

On Monday night, Tornero died. On Wednesday morning, making quick work of things, Napa police acted on a tip and brought two males in for questioning. One is 16 years old, the other 23.

The two confessed to the crime, according to police.

The criminal court system will mete out justice according to the laws of this land and with due process for the defendants. They remain innocent until proven guilty, and we trust our justice system to work fairly and effectively.

But the deeper question is why any life ends over such meager gain, with such a senseless act.

There is no satisfactory answer.

Here in Napa, we must remember our good fortune. This type of crime is an everyday occurrence in some cities. While families and friends in any community are scarred forever by such a tragedy, residents of bigger, more dangerous cities shrug their shoulders and move on.

For them, there is no other choice.

Here, we rarely see this kind of violence, and for that we are fortunate.

After Monday’s attack, someone who knew what happened told police. We are grateful for that person’s honesty and bravery.

We are grateful the police acted swiftly.

Jesus Tornero is not here to share in our gratitude. His family will take no solace in the relative safety we enjoy in the city of Napa. Our heart goes out to his family members.

Jesus Tornero gone. For $10 and a cell phone.
3 comment(s)

merri wrote on Sep 25, 2008 8:47 AM:

" ??? Here, we rarely see this kind of violence, and for that we are fortunate.???

Wake up we have had more stabbings, deaths, bodies floating around, drive bys, cult murders and gang activity. Pretty much all this in a year or so. How are we fortunate. I have to lock my car and home. Never had to do that. I have a lock on my gas cap and spot lights on at night. Never had to do that. Installed an alarm system after two breakins on my block. Never had to do that. Get a life and pull your head from the sand. Napa is in trouble. "

G-towner wrote on Sep 25, 2008 10:09 AM:

" unfortunatley the situation in napa has deteriorated to the point were i have heard of many stabbings and shootings that never get reported or publicized. just the other night someone was brutaly assulted at the green door now this.. whats next... your brother, your father , any of your loved ones with 10$ and a cell phone or a red or blue article of clothing??? i personally believe that the people should be able to bring a law siut to the state for sending criminals into a situation the state has no control over, prison. we send nonviolent criminals into the hands of the worst offenders who are allowed to thrive in there because our great nation grants them "rights". powerful gangs whos reach extends all fifty states are able coordinate in such a fashion that they operate fully functioning multimillion dollar bussineses(i didnt stutter). we need cameras everywere. everywere that is infamous for this kind of violence. there is no reason why this town should turn into another L.A. with all this construction going on in this town one would assume that there would be enough money to operate a system of cameras to provide a safety net against the extremely large holes in the law that allow these people to get away with these crimes on technicalitys. its up to the citizens to take back the town for themselves and not fall victims to punks whos mommys didnt hug them enough wen they were little. arming yourselves wouldnt be such a bad idea but dont let that get out we wouldnt want a dent in the tourism industry. "

justnana wrote on Sep 25, 2008 10:36 PM:

" I hope that the Gang Crime meetingson October 1 will bring the right mix of law enforcement and the judicial system to come up with a plan of attack on this situation. It's sad that it has come to this, but we as a community do not deserve the long slide into urban turmoil that is going on. Proactive arrests, full sentencing under the law, no bargaining down, violent juveniles with gang affiliations should be tried as adults. If we make it hard to gang bang here, they may go where the livin' is easier. "

Comment Guidelines
The goal of the story comments section at NapaValleyRegister.com is to have an open, thought-provoking, civil community forum for all issues.
What gets your comment posted?
• Staying on topic
• Keeping your comment to 300 words or less
• Avoiding name-calling
• Addressing your comments to the message rather than the messenger
What gets your comment deleted?
• Personal attacks
• Derogatory remarks
• Name-calling of any sort
• Going off-topic
• Hate speech
• Racially-insensitive comments
• Implying guilt of a subject in a crime story before there is a court verdict
• Posting e-mail addresses
• Posting comments of a commercial nature
• POSTING WITH ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
• Linking multiple comments together with "to be continued..." to get around the 300 word limit.
The fine print
- Comments are either approved or denied. We do not edit comments.
- You are welcome to modify and resubmit a denied comment.
- Comments may take several hours to be posted.
- Comments posted are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of NapaValleyRegister.com, its employees or its parent company.
- Do you have information on a story? Please go to our virtual newsroom to send us a news tip.
- If you feel a posted comment has violated our guidelines, please contact online@napanews.com or add a comment indicating you have an issue and our moderators will review the comment in question.
Search:
Web Search Powered
By Yahoo! Search
Napa Valley Register on Facebook
Copyright © 2009 Napa Valley Publishing, a member of Lee Enterprises, Inc.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy