In Long Island, New York, more than 500 people gathered on Saturday for the funeral of an Ecuadorean immigrant who was taunted and stabbed to death in Patchogue, New York. Marcelo Lucero died last week after being attacked and stabbed to death. He was thirty-seven years old. Police say Lucero was targeted because he was Latino. Police have arrested seven young white men on gang assault charges. One of them, Jeffrey Conroy, has also been charged with first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime. Police say Conroy fatally wounded Lucero by plunging a knife into his chest. On Friday night, hundreds gathered for an outside memorial for Marcelo Lucero. Speakers included immigrant rights activist Carlos Rodas.

Carlos Rodas: “Tonight is a night in which the entire Hispanic community comes together to lament the violent death of one of our own community members, a Latino, an Ecuadorean, who like many of us leaves our country filled with many great hopes and dreams to this great country in search of the American dream.” (Video Courtesy of Matthew Hegedus)