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Gateway mall shootings
Joana Cruz, 19: Her gentle and generous heart touched people
By DAVID KARP and SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published November 20, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - Northeast High School counselor Kathleen Odom works with hundreds of kids each year. But in her office, she keeps mementos from only a few.
She kept five gifts from Joana Cruz, 19, who died Thursday in a shooting at the RadioShack at the Gateway Market Center.
On the bulletin board was the Asian fan that said "I love you" in Chinese. Above it was the sketch of a pink rose that Cruz, an office aide, had drawn.
Then, there were three wallet-sized pictures of Cruz by her computer.
"Have this to remember me forever," Cruz wrote on the back of one photo. "Because I will always remember you."
Cruz was the kind of sweet and shy girl who wrote gushing notes and told friends she loved them. She juggled two jobs but also held out promise of college, with a scholarship in hand.
"She is one of the kindest persons you could have met," said Rustina Martin, 29, who worked with Cruz at a Kash 'N Karry on Fourth Street N.
Cruz knew that Martin loved chocolate, so she would regularly buy her candy bars. One time, for no reason, Cruz bought her a teddy bear with a card.
"She has a very big heart," said Odom, the counselor.
Four years ago, Cruz qualified to receive a college scholarship through the Pinellas Education Foundation, which picked promising, low-income students and pledged to pay for college if they kept a C average and stayed out of trouble.
Cruz had to work hard to keep up her grades, but she completed the program successfully, Odom said. Months after she graduated, Cruz would still drop by school. In September, she showed off the 2001 green Honda Accord she had bought. Every weekend, she would wash it in the parking lot of the Lakebrook Park Apartments, where she lived with her mother.
Cruz called Odom "auntie" or "tia." Often, the two women would talk shoes - Cruz loved shoes.
Her outfits were always coordinated, and she had an eye for fashion. She also had the petite figure of a dancer, with dark eyes and long, wavy hair.
"She was beautiful," said Ricardo Rodriguez, 22, a neighbor and friend.
Cruz's relatives declined to comment.
Julian Altiery, 18, first noticed her on the school bus. She was sitting alone and "she was real pretty," he said.
Somewhere between that ride, nights of talking and watching rental movies, he fell in love.
His father would hear laughter cascading out of Altiery's bedroom as the two spent hours watching television.
"We could trust each other," he said. "I could tell her anything."
The two shared not only secrets but a mixed heritage. Both had mothers from Colombia and fathers from Puerto Rico. They understood each other, easily gliding between English and Spanish.
Cruz, who had visited relatives in Cali, Colombia, numerous times, was supposed to go back this Christmas.
He consoled her through tough times, trying to make her laugh.
"I know she was a little depressed," he said. "She didn't know what to do with her life. She had a lot of bills."
But she wanted to go to college, he said.
A week ago, she revealed that he had stolen her heart, too.
"She told me she loved me," he said. "And I loved her, too."
The last time he saw her, a few days ago, she came down from her apartment and the two kissed.
"I would rather it was me that was dead," Altiery said. "I feel empty."
On Friday afternoon, he got a tattoo of Joana's name, dates of birth and death, and the insignia, "RIP," on his left chest.
[Last modified November 20, 2004, 01:06:09]
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