Family Of Man Killed in Greeley Angry

On a brown 2-by-4 board, attached to a metal shed surrounding a trash Dumpster in the 2500 block of 1st Avenue, a cross -- made from a palm leaf -- flutters in the evening breeze.

A rosary hangs with it, with blue beads and a blue cross, and a photo of Jimmy Joe Trevino, who died there, in a Dumpster, shot by police Wednesday.

The cross and the rosary and photo were left there by friends and family, who had a vigil at the Dumpster, to honor Trevino, whom they say was a good man, even though he had a hard life.

Trevino, 22, was a member of a well-known Greeley gang, his family said, "but he was dedicated to his kids," added his wife.

And Veronica Trevino said the shooting was a "bad mistake" by the Greeley police, "and they will pay because we're getting a lawyer."

Police were called to Veronica Trevino's apartment in the early morning hours Wednesday, after another family member called to ask officers to check on her safety. The caller said Jimmy Trevino had held a gun to Trevino's sister's head, then attacked and beat his estranged wife.

But the sister, Vanessa Trevino, said Thursday she was never threatened with a gun and her brother didn't have one that night. Wife Veronica Trevino also said her husband didn't hit her or choke her that night, as the police said. "Jimmy never hit me, all the time we were together," Veronica Trevino said.

She added that the "domestic violence" arrest on his criminal record was a mistake and the charges were dropped. "I was supposed to be the victim, but there was no evidence," Vanessa said. "And I didn't file charges."

His wife, sister, mother-in-law Janet Nava and friend Amanda Hunter all described Jimmy Trevino as "loving, friendly, and a man who could get along with everybody."

"Just because he had tattoos and was a member of a gang and had a criminal record," Nava said, "doesn't mean he was bad. He never was arrested for murder or raping anyone. All of his arrests were for nonviolent crimes."

Police said Jimmy Trevino cut off the parole department's ankle monitor bracelet. His sister said he cut it off because he was afraid of his parole officer, who "wanted to send him back to prison."

They said Jimmy Trevino was born in Texas and moved to Colorado as a boy, and had a difficult life growing up. He was abused, Nava said, and his family had problems with the law. His mother is in the Weld County Jail, where a deputy coroner and victim's advocate went to tell her of her son's death Wednesday.

The four women, talking about Jimmy Trevino at his wife's apartment Thursday, flowed through a gamut of emotions -- from tears to anger to pain to tenderness toward the man who is gone. "He had a good job," his wife said. "And he was going to alcohol and drug classes. He was really trying to change."
The Greeley Tribune