The Pérez family is still trying to find out what happened last Tuesday morning after losing Jaime Pérez, a beloved father, husband, son and teacher during a carjacking.
“It’s hard to process the pain,” said Jaime’s father, Salvador Perez, through a translator, LB Post reports.
Jaime, 55, had just had breakfast with his wife and was heading to his car parked outside their house to go to work at 7:30am when two young men or teenagers tried to steal his car, his family said.
A neighbour described to his family what they saw on his surveillance camera: the men tried to open the driver’s door, Jaime closed the door and they beat and then shot him.
Susana, Jaime’s wife, heard six shots, ran out and saw the two suspects, but did not know what was happening.
Jaime chased the suspect in his car to the intersection near Magnolia Avenue and Wardlow Road, where he collided with another car. There, the suspects came out and shot him through the windshield, a witness said. His youngest son, Daniel, 23, ran to the intersection and found his father slumped over the wheel of his Nissan Xterra.
He stayed by his father’s side until they said goodbye at the hospital.
Chasing down the men who attacked him was not uncommon for Jaime, his family said they think he was trying to protect them in a completely random carjacking.
“He was always fighting back,” said his second youngest son, Calvin. “Even as a teenager, he always fought for what was right.”
Calvin remembered a few years ago when a man tried to steal a stereo from Jaime. He followed and grabbed the suspect, and then police arrested him.
“He was a hero,” Calvin said. “He was definitely protecting my mom. He was a superhero in my eyes.”
He and his wife Susana would celebrate their 34th wedding anniversary on December 12th.
Jaime was the oldest of four children. On a coffee table at the family’s Long Beach home, a photo of the siblings sits among flowers and candles, alongside a smiling selfie of Jaime on the beach.
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