On a usual weekday afternoon in the summer in Aromas the
crosswalk feels implied rather than law. One can cross the street
at their leisure.
On a usual weekday afternoon in the summer in Aromas the crosswalk feels implied rather than law. One can cross the street at their leisure.
If you are relaxing at one of the picnic tables outside of Marshall’s Grocery, it is likely someone you know will pause to say hello and chat. If you are getting gas at the Old Firehouse Market, it is likely someone you know will pass by and wave.
Generally speaking, there won’t be much going on. People like it that way.
Monday afternoon that changed. One Aromas resident who arrived home after a day of work in the outside world said he felt as though he were in a movie. The downtown, from Marshall’s to the Firehouse Market, was cordoned off by yellow crime-scene tape. A man was on the pavement, dead. Next to him was a pickax and shell casings.
Gene Velasquez was killed by sheriff’s deputies in downtown Aromas in broad daylight. He allegedly attacked social workers, their automobile, and the deputies with an ax before being killed.
People who have lived in Aromas for any length of time have seen Velasquez, his brother, and his sister around town. They were a common sight. Live in a town of 3,000 and you get to know who people are.
The man who drove into town after work on Monday afternoon has lived in Aromas for nearly all of his 31 years. He said nothing like this has happened since he’s been there. He knew who Velasquez was. He knew Velasquez had a record. He didn’t know it was as extensive as revealed by county records. He said any shooting in Aromas is shocking, but some aspects about this one were, perhaps, not that surprising.
In the coming weeks facts will be revealed about the shooting. And about Velasquez’s behavior prior to the shooting. The Monterey County Sheriff’s Department will investigate.
And in Aromas, people will talk about it. Some will argue that the shooting was unavoidable, others will disagree. Facts will become embellished, maybe even become something else.
But one thing is indisputable – Aromas lost a sense of innocence on Monday afternoon. It happens to any small town where a man is killed on a summer afternoon at a spot where you normally see children sitting on their bikes eating ice cream.
In many parts of the country the shooting of a man allegedly acting erratically and violently on the street is worth a raised eyebrow and not much more. Just another story.
In Aromas, this is the end of one story, and the beginning of another. The story is doubt, and how it now inhabits everyone who lives in this town.
Then again, maybe it’s just life these days. Perhaps we’ve become so accustomed to the daily news of violence that we half expect it to occur in the places we live.
