The tragic loss of 3-year-old Luis Angel Diaz

(Cleveland, Ohio) For us, the friends of the Figueroa & Diaz Family, to create a GoFundMe page for such a tragic loss, not only deeply pains our hearts for the family, but for the City of Cleveland. Like the old proverb goes, "It takes a village to raise a child." However, we as a society have failed another innocent life - a child who loved chips, sizzling bacon, Hot Wheels, the show "Octonauts," and was so full of life with such a bright future ahead of him.

The loss of any child, especially one so small to be gunned down by senseless violence is incomprehensible. How can anyone wrap their mind around the death of a child, especially the families whose life has been changed within an instant. When will we as a society demand for a better today for our children, for ourselves, and for our future generations? Isn't it our responsibility to create a safe and loving society for all children regardless of color, class, and creed?

On the morning of Thursday, September 28, little Luis Angel was smiling and full of laughter while he insistently begged his mother to have ice cream for breakfast. A few hours later, while strapped into his car seat and ready to head out for a day to visit his grandpa, a stray bullet pierced through the family's car and struck Luis Angel in the chest.

Sadly, a short time later, he passed away from his injuries.

While we as a society continuously hear on the news about senseless mass and situational shootings and shake our heads, offer up thoughts & prayers, and robotically mouth "Something needs to be done," we also have the power to unite and make change for the better. Our children, on the other hand, should only be concerned with playing, watching cartoons, and seeing their friends, and not whether they will be gunned down by a stray bullet in their very own front yards or driveways.

Within the past year, almost two dozen children (under the age of 17) have been killed throughout the City of Cleveland by senseless violence. We are supposed to be their protectors. And we need to fulfil our duty as parents, friends, neighbors, elected officials, and the community to protect all of them before more innocent babies & children are tragically killed, and families severely impacted forever.

As life goes on for so many of us, life will never be the same for the Figueroa & Diaz Family.

Slone & Co. Funeral Directors have graciously stepped forward and will be generously providing little Luis Angel with a beautiful service and homegoing. And we, the friends of the Figueroa & Diaz Family, are raising money to assist the family to help supplement the cost of daily expenses relating to this tragic situation and secure a new home where the memory of 3-year-old Luis Angel's unexpected & senseless passing is not a painful reminder to them every day of the gun violence that has taken one of their own and affected their family forever. With the holidays and Luis Angel's 4th birthday around the corner, the grief & pain his mother & father and family are feeling will only intensify.

Please be so kind as to contribute whatever amount you can to help this family to have a fresh start and a future in a home that doesn't carry the memories of violence that took Luis Angel's life.

We are grateful for every contribution, no matter how small or big, and consider your prayers & well wishes for the Figueroa & Diaz Family a true blessing that will help soften the enormous pain, anger, and sadness the family is experiencing with this tragic loss.

The funeral service for 3-year-old Luis Angel is this Friday, October 6, 2023 from 11 a.m. until time of Service at 12 p.m., at Freedom Church, 12401 Cooley Avenue in Cleveland. Interment Riverside Cemetery. In addition to family and friends, the Figueroa & Diaz Family is welcoming the general public and elected officials to stand in solidarity and mourn alongside them the loss of 3-year-old Luis Angel, a young, energetic life taken way too soon from his family and from all of us.

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