Family remembers Las Vegas man who died 5 years after shooting

He was happy. It was the first time in more than eight years his entire family was together in one room.

The family was quiet as Junior gazed at them that afternoon on Feb. 13, a soft, tender smile forming.

He closed his eyes again, resting his swollen face against his pillow.

And then his heart stopped.

Time of death: 4:45 p.m. He was 25.

His death, which was first reported this week by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, had come gradually over the last half-decade.

“Knowing that he’s not suffering anymore, that brings comfort,” his oldest sister, 29-year-old Carla Regalado, said Friday. “Even though it was hard, we got five more years with him.”

Junior made it out of the hospital alive the first time, five years earlier, after the shooting that paralyzed him.

Wrong place, wrong time

After a heated argument with his sisters, Carla and Jessica, he stormed out of their home, staying at a friend’s house on the 1400 block of Christy Lane for a couple of days until what the Regalado family now refers to as “his accident.”

“He was truly at the wrong place, wrong time,” Jessica Regalado said.

In the early hours of Feb. 1, 2014, Junior was alone in the house when he heard what sounded like glass shattering. It was still dark outside.

Startled, he stood up. He recognized the face staring back at him.

Then, Rodolfo Cordero fired one round at Junior, who was 19 at time, striking him once in the chest below his left armpit.

One of the last things Junior remembered before passing out was the sound of tires screeching and a hot shooting pain, according to his family.

Police suspect Cordero was with at least two others that night, though his accomplices have never been identified, according to Metropolitan Police Department homicide Lt. Ray Spencer.

The bullet traveled down Junior’s back, shattering his spine and paralyzing him from the shoulders down.

Police have characterized the shooting as a drug-related attempted robbery.

All the worse, the trigger had been pulled by a family friend. Jessica Regalado said Friday that she and her siblings used to feed Cordero and let him stay at their house from time to time.

Guilty plea

In May 2018, Cordero pleaded guilty to one count of battery with a deadly weapon as part of a plea deal and was ordered to serve six to 15 years in a state prison.

His sentencing lasted 4 minutes, records show. He didn’t make a statement.

Cordero now faces a murder charge in the case after the Clark County coroner’s office determined that Junior died from complications of that same gunshot wound.

Before the shooting, Junior was always “the life of the party,” his sisters said. Whenever he walked into a room, people were immediately drawn to him.

But he was responsible, always taking care of his nieces and nephews and parents.

He visited his mom, who lives in Mexico, at least once a month. He would buy her groceries and give her money, even if it meant he’d be left with $20 in his bank account.

In his free time, he played soccer. It was his dream, from the time he could walk, to play for Club Deportivo Guadalajara, a professional team in Mexico, according to Carla Regalado.

But everything changed after the shooting.

Junior was fully dependent on his family to complete everyday tasks: using the bathroom, eating, brushing his teeth. He was frequently in and out of the hospital.

The fun, charismatic teenager became a short-tempered, depressed man.

“It wasn’t easy,” Carla Regalado recalled.

Finally, two years ago, he decided to have both legs amputated from the knees down, hoping the surgery would make moving around a little easier.

Soon things began to look up. His mood had turned around, and he went back to the drawing board, re-imagining his dream of playing soccer professionally.

By early 2018, he had started a youth soccer team in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. He supported his team as best he could from Las Vegas. He purchased their jerseys and sent them money for lunches and snacks, according to his sisters.

And in the months since their brother’s death, Carla and Jessica Regalado have been chipping in, sending the team money when they can, in order to keep his dream alive.

But it’s also a form of therapy for them.

Sometimes they wonder how their family has survived this. Or how a single bullet could have caused so much damage, not for just their family but for Cordero, too.

Junior’s birth

On Friday, sitting beside his daughters inside their northeast Las Vegas home, Junior’s dad wiped away a tear from the corner of his eye.

All his life Rogelio Regaldo Sr. had been waiting for Junior. He always wanted to have a son.

He chuckled, thinking back to Nov. 28, 1993, the day Junior was born.

The eager father had run down to the hospital lobby to get his mother-in-law, but by the time they had returned to the delivery room, Junior had already arrived.

He missed the birth of his first son, but he couldn’t stop smiling. Junior was pale and had a head full of red-brown hair. He was perfect.

Thinking back on how difficult the last five years had been for himself and his son, Junior’s father whispered in Spanish, “Horita descansando y poquito poquito vamos.”

Translation: “I am resting now, but little by little we will keep going.”

Junior leaves behind his parents, Rogelio and Alma Veronica, his two sisters, younger brother Sergio, nieces and nephews.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.