Second man dies in Northridge gang graffiti ice cream shop shooting

Police investigate a shooting behind yellow crime scene tape.

Staff Writer

June 12, 2023 5:17 PM PT

Adriana Smith was at her mother’s house in Northridge when she heard the sirens and helicopters.

She did not start worrying until her uncle called and said someone had been shot near an ice cream shop in the neighborhood. Her father, Benjamin Marin Sr., 69, liked to hang out in that area, she knew.

Smith was eight months pregnant but ran out of the house to the scene, where her worst fears were confirmed.

“He was still there. I saw him being carried out by the paramedics,” she told The Times on Monday.

Marin was the random casualty of a shooting that authorities said was gang-related. Days later, police arrested Jamal Jackson, 24, who authorities said admitted firing into a group of people outside the ice cream shop because some of them were painting over graffiti that he said he and other gang members had tagged that day.

Another man, Juan López, 39, a Nicaraguan immigrant and father of three who had been hired to paint over the graffiti, died shortly after being shot. He was working to make money to send to his daughter in Nicaragua for her 9th birthday.

Marin survived longer. But the initial nightmare of that day was only the beginning for his family. For the next two months, he remained in the hospital, undergoing surgeries and dealing with complications after being shot.

Marin, a father of five, died Saturday after his third surgery, this one to address an infection in his pancreas.

“What comes to all of our minds is that it was just a senseless act of violence. For it to happen in broad daylight, someone offended over some graffiti, it’s just ... I don’t know,” Smith said.

Marin immigrated to the United States from Mexico in the 1970s after he married the mother of his children. He gained permanent residency through a 1980s amnesty program.

He lived in Northridge for more than 40 years and ran an auto detail business called Quaizar for decades, teaching his children how to work on cars, his daughter said.

He fought hard after the attack, his family said. He regained consciousness for about a week and even gained the strength to speak. He had no recollection of the shooting.

Marin told his children how shocked he was that a crime would happen to him in that area.

“I remember him clearly saying, ‘That’s never happened here before,’ ” said son Fidencio Marin. “He was just in disbelief that it happened to him in that area because he never sees the bad in people. He would always see the good in people.”

Marin’s optimism continued even during his hospitalization.

“I remember him comforting me, saying, ‘Don’t worry. I’m going to recover from this. I’ll be OK. Everything will be fine,’ ” Fidencio Marin said.

The family is raising money for Marin’s funeral costs.