Infant Shot Execution Style...
SORRY if this has been done.
Members of an Elk Grove neighborhood boxing club are devastated by the loss of Sean Aquitania, 21, and his 7-month-old son.Shotgun Boxing Crew gave Aquitania his first boxing gloves when he was 14 years old.
"When Sean first came, he was getting in trouble in school a lot," said trainer and friend Daniel Palpallatoc. "His mom came to us. He had talent."
When Aquitania turned 17, he became part of the Junior Olympic boxing team. He found victory in the ring.
"He was good," said Shotgun Boxing Crew owner Benito Garcia. "He wasn't the bronze medal champion for no reason. He was somebody."
The deadly shooting that took Aquitania's life happened on the 8400 block of Country Greens Way in south Sacramento Friday. Evidence collected at the scene indicates that 7-month-old Sean Paul Aquitania Jr. was "executed" by gunmen as he sat in the car in front of the house around 2 p.m., Sacramento County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Tim Curran said.
"For some unexplained reason, as the suspects were leaving, they reached into the vehicle where the baby was and summarily executed the baby, shooting him in the head," Curran said.
The infant's father was also shot and killed while the two visited residents of the home.
"I can't believe someone would kill a baby like that ... even point a gun at a baby," said Palpallatoc.
Aquitania worked at a cashing store, but friends told News10 he wanted a better life for his son and his girlfriend, the baby's mother, Monique Delacruz. Aquitania was interested in becoming a correctional officer.
"He was overjoyed when he had his son and you could see it," said Palpallatoc. "It changed him. I'm going to miss him walking up to the driveway ... see him pull up with his baby."
Friends and family want answers, but so far, there have been no arrests. Detectives share their frustration.
They believe two people inside the house opened the door for Aquitania when two other men pushed their way inside in what investigators called a targeted home invasion.
At least one of the attackers drew a gun and fired several times, hitting Aquitania before fleeing the house. Curran said detectives believe the men stopped on their way out, shot the child, then continued their escape.
Little Cooperation from Witnesses Curran said homicide detectives had received little cooperation from the home's residents, witnesses to the "very disturbing and cold blooded" murders.
Witness Reluctance Slows Probe into Murders of Baby and Father
"It's suspicious why they won't tell us (what they know)," Curran said. "We don't believe they're telling us the truth. It's suspicious that they won't tell us the truth."
Authorities said the one of the attackers was reportedly an African American wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, while the second man was described as Hispanic and wearing a green shirt and a green Oakland A's hat.
Curran said investigators hope that someone in the community may have seen the two men together in the area Friday and will come forward with information to help solve the crime. Anyone with information was asked to call the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department at (916) 874-5115.
Co-workers Come to Aid of Murder Victims' Family Shoppers arriving at a Sacramento grocery store quickly discover what they're seeing is not a food demonstration.
Workers are throwing burgers and hot dogs on a grill in a fundraiser to help the family of murder victims Aquitania and his baby son. For the last year Aquitania had worked at Cash Carry store on Richards Boulevard.
The story has apparently touched the community. Jack Souza of Rocklin donated some money. "He was trying to protect his kid and he just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time," Souza said.
Another customer wrote a check and recalled, "I'd see him six days a week usually when I came here. (He had) a big heart. He used to help me because I'm an older unit. He used to help me load my truck because I can't do it all by myself anymore."
Frederick Gill said he stopped by to lend a hand because he knew Aquitania growing up. He said the young shooting victim would bring his son over. "He'd be changing those diapers and feeding his baby."
As Gill recalled Aquitania's baby, he teared up. "Little Sean was his world. We used to call him Mini Me. He looked just like his dad. He laughed just like him, too. He was just beginning to crawl and had little rug burns on his knees because he kept going backwards. But Sean told us don't worry, he'll get it right," Gill said.
Gill is still shocked at the brutality of how the young father and his son were murdered, "I mean, who would do something like that? I wouldn't even attempt to get in their minds. I don't why somebody would do this to that baby."