Jose Tobar, Senior Staff Writer
Jose Tobar is the photo editor for The Union newspaper team and Warrior Life Magazine at El Camino College. Tobar is currently applying his skills as a photojournalist and student reporter since first joining the publication in the 2018-2019 school year. In that time, he has enjoyed covering a variety of stories that have affected the ECC community. He could not have done without his morning cup of joe.
![Members and friends of the Hernandez family prepare to tape a printed poster with three images of Juan Carlos Hernandez over the wall outside the dispensary where he worked and was allegedly murdered by suspects Ethan Kedar Astaphan, Sonita Heng and Weijia Peng on Sept. 22, 2020. The case is ongoing. Astaphan and Hang were eventually captured and arrested last November. Peng is currently in custody in Turkey where he is attempting to fight his extradition to the United States. All year I wanted to go back to the last place [Juan] took his last breath, Juan Hernandezs mother, Yajaira Hernandez, said. That place was where we wanted to do a small vigil and pray for Juans soul. Photo by Jose Tobar/The Union Photo credit: Jose Tobar](https://eccunion.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/juan-carlos-hernandez-no-10-900x596.jpeg)
![Joseph Hernandez, 24, Juan Carlos Hernandezs older brother, carries the urn that holds his brothers ashes outside the Saint Vincent de Paul Parish at the end of the memorial mass held in his honor. Our family had previous conversations of what to do when it was our time, Yajaira Hernandez said. We all decided that cremation was what we were gonna do. This was something we all have agreed to. So yes, Juans wishes were to be cremated. Half of his ashes are in that urn that I keep at home...To me [that urn] represents a neverending cycle fo life. Photo by Jose Tobar/The Union Photo credit: Jose Tobar](https://eccunion.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/juan-carlos-hernandez-no6-900x900.jpeg)
![Juan Carlos Hernandezs mother, Yajaira Hernandez, receives a hug from a woman at the conclusion of the mass memorial at the Saint Paul de Vincent Parish in Los Angeles. Her sister Stephanie Pineda, far right, stands back with hands clasped. Losing my nephew has been difficult because it has changed everything, Pineda said. I lost someone close to me. We had a very close relationship as aunt and nephew. Theres not a day that goes by that I dont think of him. It feels like yesterday. It doesnt even feel [like] a year. Its difficult to talk about him or think of a memory without having a tear drop go down buy face or having a knot in my throat. His loss is something that I will never get over...Theres always that what if question. Photo by Jose Tobar/The Union Photo credit: Jose Tobar](https://eccunion.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/juan-carlos-hernandez-no-5-900x600.jpeg)
![An altar with a cardboard cutout of Juan Carlos Cookie Hernandezs image and urn adorns the entrance to the church pulpit at the Saint Vincent de Paul Parish in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021. The altar was designed by Classroom of Compassions David Maldonado and Noah Reich, a nonprofit based in Los Angeles. Hernandezs aunt, Stephanie Pineda, said during a phone interview that Hernandez got his nickname Cookie when he was still a baby. His brother Joseph, when he was young could never pronounce his name right, Pineda said. Joseph started calling him cookie. Ever since then we all began to call him [that] since he was a baby. Photo by Jose Tobar/The Union Photo credit: Jose Tobar](https://eccunion.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/juan-carlos-hernandez-no2-900x596.jpeg)
