Submitted photo... Nivea Ramos, left, is shown with her daughter, Crystal Hernandez, taken when Hernandez was about 16 years old.

YOUNGSTOWN — Nivea Ramos and her daughter, Crystal Hernandez, put a face on the violence that has taken so many lives in Youngstown.

The face of Hernandez is of a young woman who enjoyed using makeup and posting glamorous images of herself on social media — a young mother, 23, who moved to Youngstown as a teenager after growing up elsewhere.

The face of Ramos is that of a woman whose reason for coming from out-of-state to Youngstown last year was that Hernandez, her daughter — “my sunshine” — was murdered here, and one of the murderers was on trial.

After Larenz Rhodes, 20, was convicted, Ramos stood with her brother, Christian, and had just the right thing to say, telling the six “kids” who killed her daughter and other area boys: “Do not play with guns.”

Hernandez had a son with Gabriel Smith Sr., and they lived in an East Side apartment. Ramos said she really liked Smith when she met him as a 16-year-old, but he was “too young” to be a father at age 17.

“He was immature,” she said. He and Hernandez lived together on and off.

WHAT HAPPENED

Hernandez was shot to death in her apartment because of a feud involving Smith, then 19, and several other young men from the city that boiled over early Jan. 24, 2019, and resulted in gunfire in the morning, later in the day and while Hernandez and her 2-year-old son were alone in their apartment that night.

Prosecutors say they don’t believe the six shooters, all around the same age as Smith, knew who was inside the apartment but fired anyway to take revenge on Smith, who was not home.

Surveillance video captured the shooters leaving the area on foot after they fired more than 53 shots into the apartment. Hernandez, 23, was found shot to death — her son, 2, asleep on her chest unharmed.

Assistant Mahoning County Prosecutor Kevin Trapp said an AK-47 assault rifle fired by Rhodes 25 times was the murder weapon. He got a life prison sentence, but the other five shooters were sentenced to between 20 and 23 years in prison March 26.

Smith got five years in prison in late 2019 for his role in the feud.

IMPACT

On the day of the five sentencings, Ramos said she had hoped that an apology or two might make her feel better, but it was hard to take much comfort from what was said, other than the words of Judge Anthony Donofrio of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

In an interview last last week, Ramos said the criminal cases against the six young men are over but not the fallout from what happened.

“I know there will still be some bumps in the road from what happened to Crystal, not sentencing-wise with the boys that killed Crystal but maybe with the baby and (Smith),” she said. “One episode ends and another episode starts.”

Ramos’ grandson’s name is Gabriel Smith Jr., but she calls him “Baby.” She says it won’t be long before Smith leaves prison.

Ramos doesn’t want her location disclosed. She said coming to Youngstown for Hernandez’s funeral, the Rhodes trial and at other times helped her understand more about Youngstown and how people felt about her daughter.

After the trial, Ramos went to the mall with some of her other children, and a woman approached her to talk about the gun remarks Ramos had made.

“The woman said, ‘I have a son who has gotten into trouble with guns.’ I got chills coming down my spine. She said. ‘keep going. You’re doing a great job by saying things out there. With your story, you’re going to make a difference.’ I was so impacted,” Ramos said.

Ramos would love to make a positive impact on the Youngstown area by talking about her daughter and what happened to her, but she is also nervous about being “out there.”

“I’m outspoken. I love life. I’m full of life, as was Crystal. I like people. I like talking to people. That’s me. I can’t help it,” she said.

At her daughter’s funeral, a woman who worked with Hernandez at a Youngstown call center told Ramos how much she loved Hernandez.

“I met so many people. So many people impacted me that loved Crystal,” Ramos said.

She remembered those people and what they said when Ramos gave her victim impact statement the day of the sentencings.

“I wanted to make a difference in somebody else’s child’s life,” she said. “And all these guns and all of the stuff that’s going on. I would love to live in Youngstown (to help reduce violence), but I can’t.”

MISSING HER

Among her remarks at the sentencing: “No doubt if you knew Crystal you would instantly become her friend because she was very popular and very well-liked by her peers. Crystal was full of life, she was outspoken, an awesome mother, daughter, sister, niece and an awesome granddaughter.”

Ramos said her daughter was a “good kid” growing up, “never had any issues with her, no drug problems.” She said she heard a story from someone who knew her in Youngstown about her daughter giving a spare car seat she had to another girl who didn’t have one.

“Crystal is just like me, and I really miss her. I don’t want to get emotional but I miss her. She was over there in Youngstown, and I was over here, but we stayed in touch. She would call me. We video chat. She put the baby on.”

She said when you have children who are young adults, you don’t know everything about their lives.

“Do we know our kids’ friends, all of them? Do we go out interviewing these other kids? We don’t,” she said.

Hernandez moved to Youngstown about six years ago and finished high school here. In addition to the call center job, she did makeup for other people — young girls, brides.

Despite the sadness of remembering her daughter’s life being cut short and her grandson not having his mother, she takes consolation in having lots of photographs and videos of her daughter, some of which she was able to copy from social media accounts.

“I believe in pictures and videos because of what happened to Crystal,” she said. “I have so many pictures of Crystal growing up. I’m so happy I have those pictures and videos and I am able to share them with the baby.

“That’s what keeps me going and motivated. People are like, ‘Oh my God you’re always taking pictures.’ I’m like yes I do, and now you know why I take videos and pictures.”

PERSPECTIVE

Ramos said she got a different perspective on the young men responsible for killing her daughter when she saw them and heard them speak in court. She initially heard that gang members killed her daughter, but a better description of them is “broken.”

“These kids are abandoned. They come from families that are broken. I kind of felt sorry for them, but at the same time I don’t because why would one human try to hurt another human?

“I would like to know the cause of it. Was it drug related? Were you smoking? Why would you go to somebody’s house and shoot? They must have been on drugs. There was no point. Why would I be in my right mind, go to somebody’s house and just shoot with a gun. Just for fun?”

She said she thinks a root cause is lack of opportunity.

“There is nothing to do in Youngstown,” she said. “I’ve never lived in Ohio. I have family members who lived there. That’s how Crystal got there. She was born in Alaska. She’s never been around that type of environment.”

Her advice to parents in any location is to show them love.

“Always be by your child’s side,” she said. “Even if your child is an adult, always be by their side. They are an adult, but they are your child, no matter what. They’re an adult, but you can never be too busy to be in your adult child’s life.

“I tell my kids you’re an adult but I need to know where you are at. I have a 19-year-old as well, and he’s moved out. But I can’t stress it enough. I always call and make sure he’s OK, if he needs something.

“You can’t live your children’s lives. They are going to choose their road no matter what. Knowing your child makes a difference.”

She added, “Be always Mommy, even if they are an adult. Be their dad, be their friend because that’s all they want when they are adults.”

erunyan@vindy.com