Students at a high school in Paterson, New Jersey graduated Tuesday without one of their classmates, who was shot and killed five months ago after getting caught in a gang crossfire.
"I miss him, because I need him. I don't know how to explain it, sometimes call his cellphone because I miss him so much," Ivernis Santiago said.
"He inspired me when I was doing my GED," Cuadra's mother Ivernis Santiago said."It was fun, cause I would call him in class and say Robert, how do you do this? He'd say, 'mom I'm in class.'"In January, Cuadra was shot dead after being caught in the crossfire of warring rivals. "Robert was a beautiful young man with his sweet, sweet spirit," Harp Academy Principal Kelli White said."I knew Robert who someone full of ambition and determination to make his community a better place," Samiha Ahmed said.