AMHERST — Before Jose “Joselito” Rodriguez was shot dead last October, the outdoor area near The Boulders and the Southpoint Townhouses & Apartments was the spot where he could always be found.
He’d post “southside we outside” on social media, and friends and family would know to come through.
Rodriguez is now gone, but he is still bringing southside folks outside, where on Sept. 14 family and friends gathered in his favorite spot to remember, drink, eat and celebrate what would have been his 32nd birthday.
“I’m honestly still in shock, man,” Rodriguez’s older brother, Jorge, said between sips of alcohol.
For many, the get-together was an opportunity to reflect back on a life lost, but for Jorge and his family it’s something that haunts them endlessly.
“For us this is an everyday thing,” Jorge said. “It’s pretty much his birthday every day.”
Rodriguez and his family moved from Puerto Rico to The Boulders in 1994 when he was 8, and soon they became part of the community.
Authorities believe that Soknang Chham, of New Salem, killed Rodriguez on Oct. 15, 2016, in a Southpoint hallway, where they allege that Chham shot the 31-year-old multiple times. Another man, identified in court documents as Vichea Keo, also suffered multiple gunshot wounds that day.
Authorities caught Chham and his brother on Oct. 25, near Flagstaff, Arizona, after investigators learned they had left Massachusetts on a Phoenix-bound bus, according to court documents. Chham pleaded not guilty in January to charges including murder, armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery with a firearm and a firearm violation with at least two prior violent or drug-related offenses.
Chham’s older brother, Soksot, was charged with accessory to murder after the fact, but prosecutors later dismissed that charge because the brothers’ relationship would offer a defense.
Chham, Rodriguez and their families grew up together, Rodriguez’s sister Zuly previously told the Gazette.
Few details have publicly emerged in the case, and Jorge Rodriguez demurred when asked Sept. 14 if he knew the reason why the killing happened. A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office wouldn’t offer any information about a possible motive, and didn’t have a concrete date for when the trial might start.
“We’re giving them their space,” Jorge said of the district attorney and investigators. He said that likely won’t be the case, however, at the upcoming trial. “That place is going to be packed.”
As they sat and socialized, waiting for the cookout to start, everyone seemed to have a story about the slain Rodriguez.
Korena Jules, who described her relationship with Rodriguez as a “sister from another mother,” said she remembered being with him last year on his birthday doing the same thing — hanging out and partying with family and friends.
“My thoughts are crazy, just thinking about last year,” she said.
Saccora Quick and Ari Martinez said they both knew Rodriguez through his brother, with whom they went to school. Quick said she remembered Rodriguez literally offering someone the shirt off his back, and Martinez said he was the first person to knock on the door when her mom died.
“I’ve known him forever,” Martinez said. She said everyone knew the hard-partying and outgoing Rodriguez, but it was the 2 a.m. phone call with good advice that she remembers him often making. “I’m still waiting for it.”
“You can’t spell loyalty without ‘Joselito,’” friend Jay Stinson joked. “You need those letters.”
The bushes near where the group was mingling have been cut down, and Jorge said they plan to put a memorial bench there next month to commemorate a year since Rodriguez’s death. Beside that, he said, there’s just a lot of waiting.
“We just hope that my family get the justice they deserve,” Jorge said, gesturing out to the neighborhood and the town beyond it. He said it’s important to come outside and show kids, including Rodriguez’s three children, that they’re safe in the neighborhood. “This doesn’t happen out here.”
Many of the memorial’s attendees wore white T-shirts with Rodriguez’s face on them, “Southside we Outside” emblazoned across the top.
“He brought a big heart to a small town,” Jorge said, watching as a kid from the neighborhood walked by with a Joselito T-shirt on.
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.