Parents want to bring son's body back to Brazil after killed while delivering flowers in Oakland
OAKLAND, Calif. - The parents of a homicide victim, who was shot and killed while delivering flowers in Oakland, want to bring their son's body back to his home country of Brazil.
Loved ones of Matheus Gaidos said they want to honor the 27-year-old's life in the presence of family and friends.
"With extreme sadness, we came to ask for help from the whole community to take Matheus Gaidos' body back home, to Brazil, to have the funeral he deserves, close to his family and Brazilian friends," said a GoFundMe campaign created on behalf of the victim's parents, Isabel Martines and Antonio Carlos Gaidos.
Video shows altercation that led up to deadly shooting of a delivery worker in Oakland's Koreatown
KTVU has obtained surveillance footage of the incident, shedding light on the sequence of events. The neighborhood is left shaken by the tragic incident, which reportedly began as a verbal altercation between two men about a dog.
Gaidos' parents flew from Brazil to the Bay Area last week after they learned of their son's death.
Gaidos was shot and killed in Uptown Oakland on June 21. He was delivering flowers in front of an apartment building when he was confronted by a man walking with two dogs, as shown in surveillance video. That led to an altercation and the man shooting Gaidos.
"It's my only son. The pain, don't know how to explain the pain," said Martines. "I don't know what to do. I'm destroyed inside."
She said her son was on his cell phone playing a video game with a friend in Brazil, while making his delivery. The friend overheard Gaidos say 'nice dog,' and then there was a commotion.
"He was just doing his last delivery before going home. He wasn't doing anything wrong," said Martines.
They said their son came to the United States five years ago, fearful of the street violence in Brazil. He's been in the Bay Area for three years working as a delivery driver.
"It's hard to forgive something that happened like that," said his father Antonio Gaidos through an interpreter. "We want justice, just don't want to see this happening with somebody else."
Authorities have not made an arrest in the case. However, they released images of two persons on interest in the case.
OPD releases two images of persons of interest in connection to the homicide of a flower delivery man. (KTVU FOX 2)