The family of a man who was shot and killed in Oceano last week is speaking out about their loved one.
Deputies responded to reports of an assault with a deadly weapon along the 2200 block of Beach Street late last Tuesday night after neighbors reported hearing gunshots. Once on scene, they found the body of Daniel Fuentes, Sr. at a neighbor’s home.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office says Fuentes, Sr. told the neighbor he had been shot. He died soon after.
Now, his family wants answers.
“I hope that nobody would have to feel that pain of losing a parent,” Fuentes, Sr.’s son, Daniel Fuentes, Jr., told KSBY News. “I hope to God they catch them.”
The Fuentes family remembers him as a supporting and loving member of their family.
“He was my dad,” Fuentes, Jr. said. “He was the person who raised me. He taught me how to shave, he taught me how to shake a man’s hand.”
Fuentes, Jr. believes his father went to a nearby market to buy water for his grandmother and on his way back, was shot in the alleyway.
“He was on his way back and never made it home,” Fuentes, Jr. said.
Sheriff’s deputies say Fuentes, Sr. was able to make it to a neighbor’s house where he knocked on the door for help before telling them he had been shot.
Fuentes, Jr. says his whole family is shocked. “Whether or not he did something wrong, I don’t think that person had that right to make that choice,” he said.
The victim leaves behind a wife and five kids.
“We want to be at peace as a family and see that justice is done for him and we just want the community to be safe,” said Celina Austin, cousin of Fuentes, Sr.
Branch Street Deli is holding a fundraiser for his memorial on Thursday, April 11, from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Ten percent of all the proceeds will go to the family.
The family has also set up a GoFundMe page.
No arrests have been made in the case and Monday, the sheriff’s office said there were no new updates to report.
Witnesses who have not yet spoken to a detective about the incident are asked to call the sheriff’s office.
Anonymous tips can be made by contacting Crime Stoppers at (805) 549-STOP.
