The two Venezuelan migrants found dead in Brooklyn from apparent drug overdoses were close friends bonded by a shared vision: Finding a better life for their relatives left back home.
“They were both excellent people … and wanted to get ahead, to help their families,” their mourning friend and fellow migrant Jolfrank Hernandez told the Us.Mistertruth on Saturday.
Other pals of the victims, whose names were not released by authorities, described the pair as hard workers intent on making good after arriving about six months ago in New York City.
“[He] came to this country for a dream,” said Andres, 27, about one of the victims he befriended at the migrant shelter where they lived. “He had many goals … A kind, happy person and also a fighter.”
The two longtime pals, both in their mid-twenties, were found dead around 5:30 a.m. Thursday inside a car parked outside the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center in Bushwick, with NYPD sources reporting drug paraphernalia was recovered from the vehicle.
“[They] were good boys,” said migrant and friend Jose Martinez, 28, also of Venezuela. “Good friends. Humble workers. Unfortunately, they lost their lives.”
The city medical examiner was performing autopsies to determine their causes of death, an official said Saturday. But Hernandez, 31, was insistent the dead men were not drug users.
“No, they weren’t on drugs,” he said. “They were just drinking liquor and the next day they woke up dead.”
A hand-painted memorial mural was created by a local graffiti artist and friend to honor the two victims, their first names written in yellow against a red background.
“We will remember you forever,” read a message in Spanish, with candles and a floral bouquet left on the sidewalk below.
The shaken Martinez, who met the two men at the shelter, agreed that neither of the victims used any drugs.
“We have been living all together,” he said. “That is why their death hits us.”
Hernandez recalled the two friends as a little bit different, with both coming to Brooklyn with an eye toward a brighter future.
“[One] was more extroverted and liked to have to fun,” said Hernandez. “[The other] was more serious. I couldn’t explain to you why they woke up dead.”
The deaths brought the number of asylum seekers who died while staying in city shelters to four since the massive influx of migrants began arriving last spring.
Two migrants committed suicide inside shelters in the last nine months, including a Colombian mother of two staying at a Queens facility.
“We all feel very bad because in reality they are human beings just like us,” said Hernandez of his friends. “… We came here to … improve ourselves and help our relatives in Venezuela.”