APO Brother Vidal Perez murdered in NY
 

I am sad to report that my Alpha Phi Omega chapter Brother Vidal Perez-Galan was murdered in the Bronx, NY this weekend. He was a teacher at a high school there. He was found dead in his apartment with two gunshot wounds.

Vidal was one of the coolest Brothers I could have ever pledged to. Please keep Mu Alpha Chapter and all of Vidal's family and friends in your prayers.

R.I.P. Brother

#4-Mu Alpha- Spring '96
Georgetown University, Class of '99

Such a sad thing, but he is in a better place now! I will keep his family in my prayers!

That's awful. :( Thoughts and prayers to his family and friends and all our Brothers...

I am so sorry for your loss, Sensuret.

I will pray for him and his family too.

My prayers are with his friends and family...may he rest in peace.

how sad...
thoughts and prayers with all those involved.

I'm so sorry to hear about this. :(

Him and his family will be in my thoughts and prayers too.

What a sad thing to happen to a Fellow A Phi O Brother.

A person who joins A Phi O is a person who cares and helps other.

This is a tradgity for sure.:(

I'm sorry my friend. I will keep them in my thoughts.

-Rudey

This is a tragedy - I am very sorry for you, and for the other friends & family members. I will keep you all in my thoughts and wish you better days ahead.

I'm sorry to hear that. my thoughts and prayers for the family and friends of Vidal Perez.

That is such a horrible tragedy. Senusret, I am very sorry for your loss. My prayers are with his family, friends, and the organization.

Teacher's mom recall loving son




BY WIL CRUZ
STAFF WRITER, Staff writer Rocco Parascandola contributed to this story.

December 19, 2004

For 20 years, Carmen Edith Galan de Perez would pass a certain upscale shopping center in Houston and survey it with longing, envisioning the special hairdo she might get at a salon there. But she never went there.

Then, during the Thanksgiving weekend, her son Vidal Perez-Galan visited from New York and took his mother to that very beauty parlor so she could get her hair done in honor of the holiday.

It was their last happy time together. On Thursday night, Perez-Galan, 27, was found fatally shot in his Harlem apartment, a slaying for which police believe robbery was the motive.

Yesterday, Galan de Perez, 61, bereft of her only child, recalled his loving gesture. "I used to always pass that gallery and wanted to go in, but I never did; it always looked so beautiful from the outside," she said in Spanish by telephone from her Texas home. "He told me: 'I can't believe you've never been there.'"

"Later on, he surprised us and took us there," she added, referring to herself and other relatives. "We were so happy."

Perez-Galan, a teacher at the Fordham Leadership Academy in the Bronx since September 2003, was discovered by his roommate, facedown on the floor of his apartment on West 130th Street. Perez-Galan, who was shot three times, was still wearing his coat.

Police said Perez-Galan made some deposits at a nearby bank before withdrawing $40 from an ATM machine. He ran errands before heading home.

Police are looking into the possibility that Perez-Galan was trailed at some point. No arrests had been made as of last night.

"We're just hoping that whoever did this gets caught so we could at least have some closure and move on," said Judy Escobar, a cousin of Perez-Galan, from Houston. "It's not going to bring him back, but at least we can know that someone was held responsible."

In the absence of such answers, Perez-Galan's parents reminisced yesterday about his graduation from Georgetown University, his six-month trip to Russia, and his fluent command of four languages.

A memorial for Perez-Galan is planned at his old school on Wednesday.

Staff writer Rocco Parascandola contributed to this story.

Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.