Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero died from stab wounds he suffered during a hate-fueled gang attack on Nov. 8, 2008, in Patchogue, N.Y. His death prompted an outcry over discrimination against Latinos in the Long Island community. Flickr/longislandwins
Shortly before midnight on Nov. 8, 2008, seven teenagers surrounded and attacked two Latino men outside of a train station in Patchogue, Long Island. Marcelo Lucero, a 37-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant who worked at a local dry cleaning store, was stabbed in the chest and left to die. The teens were convicted of gang assault; prosecutors said the attack was part of targeted hate crimes against Latinos in the area, which the perpetrators purportedly called “Mexican hopping” or “beaner hopping.”
As the three-year anniversary of Lucero’s killing approaches, MetroFocus looks back at the players in the crime that unalterably changed so many lives.
