SAN ANTONIO – Dozens of mourners crowded onto the small street where Angelina Ruiz lived and died in the 200 block of Brooks Street for a Sunday evening vigil.
They honored the 46-year-old grandmother as an honorable woman who impacted people's lives for the better.
"She is a hero because she did the right thing," said Alex Fleming, a pastor and Ruiz's cousin. "She loved and cared for her children, grandchildren and even children who were not her own."
San Antonio police said Ruiz was shot and killed Thursday trying to break up a fight between teenagers over an alleged carjacking in front of her East Side home.
Late Friday night, the San Antonio Police Department Gang Unit arrested Cory Baker and charged him with Ruiz's murder.
Yet the overriding message at the emotional vigil was of peace and reconciliation.
"If they were to take one of your family members, you would want to retaliate," said Mike Villarreal, Ruiz's cousin. "But we're going to let God handle it."
Ruiz's husband, Marco, surrounded by family and friends, said that's what his wife would have wanted.
"I want justice, but I want justice the right way, not the wrong way," he said. "Two wrongs don't make a right."
Villarreal also urged the gathering to leave the streets behind.
"Look what it did. It took my sister," Villarreal said.
Marco Ruiz tearfully thanked the mourners for standing by him and his family.
He said despite their grief, he felt his wife's smiling presence.
"I've got to believe that in my heart," Ruiz said.
