This murdered Kennewick father is remembered on his 22nd birthday
Patrick Romero spent hours in the snow fixing his aunt’s car, just so she could get to work.
Patricia Martinez teared up remembering the 21-year-old as she sat near a colorful sidewalk memorial of balloons and prayer candles in Kennewick.
“About two years ago, I was pregnant, and my car broke down, and I was going through a separation,” she said. “My nephew didn’t want me walking ... he came in the middle of the winter, and he laid in the snow to fix my fuel pump and my starter.”
Martinez and other relatives gathered Thursday to celebrate what would have been Romero’s 22nd birthday.
He was shot and killed Saturday night when five teens drove through the neighborhood firing a BB gun at cars and homes.
Romero apparently threw rocks at the car after it fired at his grandmother’s apartment. Teens from the car then got out and confronted him, according to court documents.
Martinez said the West Bruneau Place neighbors are frustrated with an increase in vandalism in the area just east of Highway 395.
Three Pasco teens have been arrested so far in connection with the shooting. Stuart Walker, 17, is being held on $1 million bail on murder charges for shooting Romero in the chest with a .40-caliber handgun.
On Friday afternoon, Romero’s family filled a Kennewick courtroom bench to watch Walker make his first appearance in adult court on the charges.
Father of one
Romero, the father of a nearly 2-year-old daughter, was a great kid with a big heart, his aunt told the Herald.
He was one of seven children and grew up in a large extended family. He rescued animals, took care of his relatives and loved to ride skateboards and bicycles.
“He was really bubbly and outgoing,” Martinez said. “My mom was really close to him, and he was my son’s best friend growing up. ... He was just an all around special kid.”
He and his siblings spent a lot of time living with Martinez and her six kids, and he never had problems at school or getting into trouble, she said.
“He was never aggressive or angry. In fact, he would always talk us out of being that person,” she said.
The Sunnyside High graduate learned how to fix cars while he was in school, and was often the family mechanic. She joked that he always had grease under his fingernails and stains on his clothes.
More recently, he was a laborer at the Columbia Crest Winery in Paterson and was starting a new job as a general laborer in Kennewick.
Martinez said Romero gave as much of himself as he could, including driving family members around and giving blankets to the homeless and jackets and skateboards to people he met at the skate park.
“We’d always tell him, ‘Patrick, what are you going to have later,’ and he’d go, ‘I’ll figure it out,’” Martinez said.
She said the neighborhood remains on edge.
“Because he was such a peaceful guy, we just want the peace to keep. We want all this to end. ... The violence has to stop here,” she said.
Now family members are trying to raise enough money to cover his funeral expenses. They created a GoFundMe account for donations.