The grief is still unbearable for Martha Freire.
One year ago this week, she spoke to her husband, Douglas Miguel Rodriguez Barzola, for the last time. It was only a few hours later that he was killed at the kosher grocery store in Jersey City where he worked.
She expected family and friends to visit from her homeland of Ecuador in the past year and help distract her from the sorrow she seems to constantly feel. But COVID-19 struck, forcing flights to be canceled, and Freire to face the days mostly alone with her 12-year old daughter, Amy, in a country she still is getting to know.
A year later, family’s hearts ache for man who perished in Jersey City shooting
Updated Dec 10, 2020;
Posted Dec 10, 2020
Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, 49, was one of the victims of Monday s shooting in Jersey City.Courtesy of William Rodriguez
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Douglas Miguel Rodriguez was a good man.
His wife Martha Freire will tell you, assuring you it’s not just the hyperbole of a loving spouse. His younger brother, William, a pastor in their native Guayaguil, Ecuador, will say how he looked up to Douglas as a man of faith who still sought advice from his big brother. Douglas’ 12-year-old daughter Amy will tell you how much she misses her father.
NorthJersey.com
JERSEY CITY Three years ago, when Yossi Berger joined other ultra-Orthodox Jews moving into the predominantly Black neighborhood of Greenville, the cultural divide was clear. Everyone lived in their own bubble and didn t talk much, he said.
For better or worse, that began to change a year ago, after a hate-fueled shooting spree targeted the sole kosher grocery here and turned a mixed community of homes, shops and schools into a bloody war zone. I returned home that day and found my African American neighbors standing outside of my house, recalled Berger, who used to shop and meet with friends at the JC Kosher Supermarket. They all asked how they could help.