On Friday, 23-year-old Alberto Vargas Quero had been in San Francisco for two days, and it was his first day on the job at Modern Hair Cuts on Mission Street. He hadn’t eaten all day, and was waiting for his lunch break when he stepped outside for some air.
Minutes later, Vargas Quero was gunned down and killed in broad daylight.
His friends and family, mostly Venezuelans living in Colombia, remember him as a quiet, polite, family-oriented person. After making his way to Colombia as a teenager, Vargas Quero made a grueling journey last year to the United States, in search of better opportunities. He hoped to make enough money to buy his mother a house.
And he had just finally achieved the first step in his dream of eventually opening his own barbershop.
“I told him, ‘Papi, come back,’ but [he’d say] ‘No mom, I’m going to help you,’” said his mother, Anmelys Coromoto Quero Rojas, breaking into sobs on the phone on a call from Bogotá. “He was my only son, ma’am, he was my support, he was the only one who helped me.”
Whenever he could, Vargas Quero would send money to his mother, his ailing grandmother, and his pregnant sister — all now living in Bogotá. His sister remembered an instance before he left Colombia when Vargas Quero had only $25 that he’d recently earned.
“He bought my grandmother a cake,” said his sister, Luisana de los Angeles Vicuña Quero. “And he hadn’t eaten anything all day. He preferred to buy the cake for my grandmother, and celebrate her birthday.”
Luisana called her brother “a kid in a man’s body.” Videos show him singing soulful ballads, or sending silly videos to his family using filters to enlarge his lips and alter his voice. His family and friends remember him loving music and soccer, but said that his priority was always helping those around him.
It is still unclear what prompted the shooting — surveillance video footage shows a man standing near a white car outside the barbershop, and another man standing near the doorway. As the second man appears to turn back into the shop, the second man also suddenly runs toward the shop. The shooter appears to be out of the frame.
An eyewitness earlier told Mission Local that the shooter was in the white car when he fired the shots before driving off. The witness said that the shooter had been lingering in the streets for a while and “eyeing [Vargas Quero] from inside the car.”
Though Vargas Quero did not have an easy life, he had an easy way about him, and his family remembered him as an unproblematic, humble person.
His best friend, Nazareth, said they met in 2017 on the trek from Venezuela to Colombia, where both were headed to seek better lives.
Vargas Quero was 17 at the time, and Nazareth was 16.
“The truth is, it was very complicated,” said Nazareth. “We were just children, and it was difficult because we were just beginning to get to know the outside world.”
Eventually, the pair worked together in construction in Colombia. When Nazareth later made his way to Arkansas, Vargas Quero joined him. It was his first stop in the United States.
His journey to this country was a difficult one as well. Vargas Quero’s mother and sister said he had no phone or money, and had to work odd jobs, like selling ice cream, while relying on the generosity of others to make his way through Central America to cross the border.
More than two months after leaving his family in Bogotá in July, he arrived in the United States in September 2023, Luisana said.
Vargas Quero made his way to Arkansas to meet Nazareth but, after working about six months at a carwash — where Nazareth says the boss underpaid and overworked undocumented employees — Vargas Quero decided he’d had enough. He set off to meet another friend in San Francisco.
Last week, he finally arrived, and by Friday he started his job at Modern Hair Cuts.
“He sent me a photo with his friend — he was there, and he was happy,” said Vargas Quero’s father, Yordis Vargas Querales, who spoke with his son the day of the shooting. “I said, ‘God bless you,’ and he said ‘Amen.’ He sent that word, ‘amen.’”
Vargas Quero, as always, was in touch with much of his family — his sister said he had sent her a “bendición a la barriga,” or a belly blessing, that day, and his mother had spoken with him as well.
Now, Vargas Quero’s family is trying to navigate the bureaucratic system to bring Vargas Quero home, and get answers about his killing.
The suspect, Alexander Martinez, 30, was arrested on Saturday in Richmond. He will be arraigned in San Francisco court this afternoon.
Alberto Rafael Vargas Quero is survived by his mother, Anmelys Coromoto Quero Rojas, his father, Yordis Ramon Vargas Querales, his sister, Luisana de los Angeles Vicuña Quero, and his grandmother, Margeris Margarita de Quero Rojas.
To support Vargas Quero’s family in their effort to bring his remains home, please click here.
All interviews were conducted in and translated from Spanish.
Update: Alexander Martinez’s arraignment today was delayed to April 17. He remains in custody.
Update: The description of the surveillance footage has been updated in this story, following a court hearing during which additional details about the incident were provided.
Utterly heartbreaking. He wasn’t a boy in a man’s body. He was well on his way to being a real man.
mission local if there is any kind of fundraiser will you update us? This is a horrible story and it won’t make it better, but I would love to contribute to send some money to his family if there was a way
Hi Anandi, there is a fundraiser up now! – https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-bring-alberto-vargas-quero-home
Yes, we will. Best, Lydia
Great reporting yet so heartbreaking for the family. My early reaction was thas this was “un ajuste de cuentas” a deal gone wrong, but from reading it seems he might have been targeted – maybe for not paying the entry money to the US? I had several relatives in Mexico who once got caught by the cartel on the crossing, kidnapped by them and then released in the US; though they were expected to pay the Cartel over 5 figures and if not paid over a certain amount of time, they’d fear for their lives. Sadly might seem one possible scenario. Really sad….
How senseless! He endured so much to get here only to get shot upon arrival.
Solo pido que se haga justicia de verdad
Porque nadie me da una respuesta certera sobre mi hermano Alberto solo me dicen que tenga paciencia y que todo se demora pero ya estoy cansada de esperar ver como pasan los días y mi hermano sigue en una morgue (mientras que su asesino está en una cárcel comiendo durmiendo y bañándose) mientras el ya no volvera abrir sus ojos., ayúdenme porfavor a que me entreguen el acta de defunción y me manden a mi hermano a Colombia y se haga justicia.