Even as mourners flocked into the St Benedict’s Roman Catholic Church yesterday to bid farewell to Palmiste murder victims George Quintero, his wife Ingrid Garcia-Quintero and their daughter Marisol Garcia-Quintero, the motive behind their slayings remained a mystery.
Describing the murders of the family as a cowardly act, Father Wilfred John told mourners to leave their killers in the hands of God.
In his homily, John said the Quinteros’ loved ones will carry this burden for a long time because of the “suddenness of this tragedy.”
Praying that one day they will reach the stage of acceptance and peace, John said, “Even now you are asking questions, all of us are asking questions and we are finding no answers.”
He said such tragedies will have a physical, spiritual and mental toll on people.
“I am not going into the ramifications of crime right now because that will be dignifying those who perpetrated this cowardly act. We are not here to dignify them. We are not here to lift them up. We are not here to let them say ‘well we did this and we made the news and the priest presiding spoke about something that we did,’ we not going to dignify that.”
Noting that it was the season of Easter, he said, “We are going to leave them in the hands of God, leave them. They will get no accolades from us today those who are behind this cowardly act.”
However, he conceded said the questions on the mind of those gathered would still be why.
“As we sit and we wonder why, why, why ... we wonder about the inhumanity of man towards man. We wonder about the cruelty which is taking over the hearts of people…We wonder at the lack of fellow feeling, we wonder, we wonder.”
He said the Quinteros’ killers will eventually answer to God.
Rather than mourn, he told the congregation they should pray for the departed souls and for God to have “mercy on us all.” He said bereaved relatives could take solace knowing that God was with them in times of grief, sorrow and challenge.
Remembering his uncle as a gentleman with a gentle soul, Kabir Singh said Quintero worked Sunday to Sunday, always had a warm smile, was full of love and always put his family first. He recalled that a valued lesson from him was “his contentment and positivity to whatever situation.”
Cindy Ling said her aunt, Garcia-Quintero, was a praying person and each time she sat in a car she would say a prayer.
“It was never a day she will not say her prayers,” Ling said, noting the fact that her aunt is in the hands of God might bring some comfort to those grieving her loss.
“She was a cheerful, fun loving lady who was full of life, feisty and funny.”
However, Ling said her aunt’s greatest passion was her husband and two daughters. She described her cousin Marisol as a very quiet, interesting and amazing person. A private cremation was held after the service.
The bodies of Quintero, 52, a contractor, Garcia-Quintero, 61 and Marisol, 33, were found in their pick-up van along the Solomon Hochoy Highway on a bridge near Ste Madeleine around 7 am on Monday. There were gunshot wounds to their heads and faces and bullet holes in both windscreens and a rear window. It is believed they were returning home from MovieTowne when they were attacked.