Bellport community holds fundraiser for MS-13 victims’ families

The brother of one of two teens whose slashed bodies were found this month said his parents were “destroyed” by the death as community members and loved ones held a Bellport fundraiser Sunday to support the victims’ families.

William Tigre, 21, the brother of Jorge Tigre, who was one of the four victims discovered in a Central Islip park, arrived at the home on Champlin Avenue, greeting friends and family with a smile and a hug.

“They’re destroyed. What can you expect,” Tigre said of his parents, still distraught since learning the grisly details of their son’s death. Suffolk County police say the brutal killings were the work of the MS-13 gang, which has been linked to similar slayings in the Brentwood area.

The community event, held at the Bellport home of a resident who knew both teens, collected money and distributed food to attendees.

They stuffed an empty shoe box with cash collected from residents. They donated proceeds from youth soccer teams who paid to use their backyard and compete against each other, and they cooked chicken, rice, French fries and pasta donated from residents.

The goal was to collect donations to cover expenses for the families and ease the tension felt by nearby residents still shocked by the April 12 discovery of the bodies.

Fernando Marca, 42, said hosting the event at his home on Champlin Avenue was the least he could do to help the Llivicura and Tigre families.

“I feel really bad. I cried at the funeral. I’ve been crying ever since,” Marca said.

Llivicura, 16, of East Patchogue, and Tigre, 18, of Bellport, were two of four young men whose bodies were found at the park across from the Central Islip Recreation Center. The other victims were 20-year-olds Michael Lopez Banegas, of Brentwood, and Jefferson Villalobos, of Pompano Beach, Florida.

“If they were bad kids, OK, then I could understand what happened. But these were good kids,” Marca said. “I just don’t know what happened.”

George Phillips said he came to the house to donate cash because he felt so bad about the killings. And he wanted to see justice done.

Joselo Lucero, the brother of an Ecuadorean man attacked by seven youths and stabbed to death in Patchogue in 2008, also came to pay his respects. He said closure will only come with arrests.

Lucero said the pain of losing his brother Marcelo has not gone away and he knows something needs to be done.”

“No one human had the right to take a life, especially in that horrible way,” Lucero said. “The seeds of terror and fear have been planted on Long Island and we have to do something about it. It has to be stopped.”

“The pain that they have gone through is horrible. It’s unimaginable. And something has to be done,” Phillips said.