'In her own way, she accomplished a lot'

Cynthia Vargas was a high school dropout. Still, she promised her family that she would do something with her life.

She enrolled at United Education Institute (UEI) to become a medical assistant. Her test scores averaged between 85% to 95%, according to her older sister, Evelyn Vargas, 21.

Eight days before graduating from UEI, Vargas, 20, was shot in the back of the head in the 12700 block of 58th Street in Huntington Park about 1 a.m. Sunday, June 1.

Evelyn Vargas said she was on her way to pick up her younger sister for breakfast when she spotted police cars and yellow tape. She thought nothing of it. "It should have hit me," Evelyn said. "Everybody should have been outside, but no one one was around, so I thought she was inside."

An hour later, Evelyn Vargas said she drove back to the crime scene. She told an officer that her sister had been in the area and that she hadn't arrived home. An officer took down her information and told her he would call upon locating her sister.

Later, she got a phone call from the police. They said her younger sister was at St. Francis Medical Center. At the hospital, doctors told the family that Vargas had been declared brain dead but was kept on life support because she was an organ donor.  Evelyn Vargas said she walked to her sister's bed. She said her sister's face was swollen; blood flowed from her nose, eyes and ears, she recalled in a phone interview. She said her sister's hair was stiff with dried blood. "I thought I was hallucinating," she said.

Detectives told the family they had arrested a 16-year-old Latino youth on suspicion of murder. For the family, it was no longer about who had shot Vargas, but whether she knew the shooting was about to happen. Occasionally, Evelyn Vargas spends her time in her sister's old room, expecting her to come home. She said she tries to take comfort in knowing that her sister's donated organs are helping others. "Someone will have her heart, her lungs. It's good that she's going to help," she said. "In her own way she accomplished a lot." 

Comments

[Lynette]

This is so sad I cant believe people go around taking people lifes away like its nothing.
All I have to say there is KARMA and what goes around comes around.

[LISA FRANKLIN]

GOD BLESS YOUR FAMILY, I PRAY THAT YOU WILL HAVE FAITH IN GOD THAT EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT. I'M IN TEARS RIGHT NOW AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOUR FAMILY BUT I KNOW THAT GOD IS GOOD AND THAT EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON IT'S SAD THAT THIS CAME OUT THIS WAY. IT'S SO SAD SO SAD THAT SOMEONE COULD JUST KILL WITH NO HEART. I'M SORRY FOR YOUR FAMILY VERY SORRY. WHY ARE WE KILLING ONE ANOTHER. I'M SO TIRED OF THE BLACK ON BROWN, BROWN ON BROWN AND BLACK ON BLACK CRIME I'D RATHER BE IN HEAVEN WITH NO WORRIES. LISA

[Javier Aguilar]

It does not say why he did it. Was he a distraught ex-boyfriend?
The misguided emotions todays youths are experiencing is at times so unbearable for them to the point where life does not seem worth living.
This is becoming far to often a common reaction to the psychological stress our soiciety/culture places on young minds. Minds that are still not developed to deal and cope with such overwhelming trauma.
We must realize the fundamental causal factors at play here and as concerned individuals be as active as we can in addressing the problem to find solutions.
My deepest sympathies go out to her family.

[Jennifer]

I'm so sorry for your loss..my prayers are with you and your family.

[Abigail Sanchez]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I know what it is to lose a sibling this way. In an instant, so many lives are changed forever. My deepest, most heartfelt condolences to the family & friends of Cynthia Vargas. May she rest in peace.

[Cindy]

Tragic story of an innocent young women's life taken away. My condolences to the Vargas Family. You are in my prayers

[Michael Seery]

Just awful. My heart goes out to the Vargas family.

[Southoc]

Who fathers and mothers these men who kill women?

[Victor Vargaz]

I cried at the news and sight of this beautiful woman so needlessly taken from us. Another statistic on the neverending cycle of death and destruction amidst a sub-human race called mankind. The callous disregard for life is truly incomprehensible and we must take a stand against this all-to-common news. If it iis proven that his 16 year old or someone else did this, they should be taken out to the spot of her death, his head cut off in three strokes of the machete, and mounted on a stick for all to see that THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MURDER SOMEONE. Until then, we will all remain victims, chained to the barbaric collective of indifference, the results of which we fully desrve. Dr. Victor Vegaz.

[16]

Why has no one addressed the fact that this 20 year old WOMAN was dating a 16 year old BOY?

She was commiting a crime, she was molesting this child. Should she have been killed over it? I couldn't say not enough info here or any where.

But this was a woman dating a boy. If we are to look to blame someone how about we start with that and the circumstances that would lead a 20 year old woman to date a boy? Funny that not one person so far has questions this relationship.

[Robert, L.A.]

Considering that this young woman was killed, I don't see how or why one would try to attach blame for dating choices. Young people make bad choices all the time and life is difficult to say the least for the ones with the most bad choices.

This girl however did not do anything that justified her murder. Is that something you are trying to establish? The blame for actions is mainly on the actor, very much a basic concept.

How someone is raised influences a lot, but those persons are blameworthy WITH the perpetrator, not INSTEAD. Parenting is not easy. Many young people pick and choose when and how they take up the parent responsibility. It's an all-the-time job, if you don't like it, don't have babies... grandma will not always be there; and how old were THE GRANDPARENTS? Lots of teen pregnancy statistics there, too. Just who is around to provide any wisdom to a family.

The hidden part of the problem is that many have one or both parents missing from the scene by jail, death, or choice. Some have parents but they are abusers of each other and of the children in many ways. So again, who is going to get things on the right path? It needs doing and in early years for it to matter.

If parents can't or won't instill values and responsibility, who is going to do it? If no one, then the problem perpetuates.

We need good people to be allowed to flourish, and not let criminals and future-criminals control their freedoms.

[ladybugg]

I am so sorry to hear about your lost she was very beautiful. just reading her story mad me very teary eyed. its not right for her to have gone so soon.. all my prayers and blessing go out to the family. but god dosent put you through things that we cant handle.. i know its easier said than done but you will get through it.. maybe god needed her more than you all did..but you will see here another day. Her life had to be taken to give another that was fabulous that she thought of her own organs to help save another if something were to happen to her..much blessings and luv goes towards your family and her being an angel...

[562vert]

she was in fact commiting a crime if she was dating a 16 year old.....i would be in jail so quick if me as a 25 man year old let alone when i was 20 dating a 16 year old girl . i see that also..yea i blame her also for dating a16 year old boy.... that couldnt offer her nothing but a few good times in a cheap motel. Females know who the pick to date the know who the bad boy thugs are....and i see it every day i work at a highschool. its their choice no one put a gun to her head and told her to do that..if that is even the case

[MONICA]

OK SO I SEE SOME PEOPLE POSTING SOME IGNORANT COMMENTS ON CYNTHIA VARGAS I FEEL NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO SAY SOMETHING BAD ABOUT HER FOR WHOEVER KNEW HER YOU WOULD OF KNOWN SHE WAS YOUNG LATINO WOMAN WITH A BIIIIIGGGG HEART SHE WOULD ALWAYS WATCH OVER HER LITTLE BROTHERS SHE WOULD FOOL AROUND LIKE ANY YOUNG TEEN WOULD SHE LOVED MUSIC ESPECIALLY JENNY RIVERA. I AM DEEPLY SADDEN FOR HER SOMTIMES I THINK ABOUT HER AND TEARS ROLL DOWN MY EYES EVEN THO I NEVER TOLD HER I LOVED HER IM PRETTY SURE SHE KNEW I MISS HER ALOT I FEEL THAT I MISSED OUT ALOT OF THINGS WITH HER AND SINCE THIS HAPPEND TO HER NOW IM CLOSER TO MY FAMILY I MISS U CYNTHIA AND I LOVE YOU ALOT ALL WAYS YOURE LIL CUSIN MONI ONE DAY WILL BE BACK TOGETHER ALL OF US PRETTY SOON