A memorial service was held on Friday for the young man shot and killed during a party near Morgan Hill in July. Desiderio Romero V, 18, was remembered by family and friends during a service held at the Santa Teresa Catholic Church in San Jose. “At the end, you pray to God and give you stren gth and we’re getting through it pretty good, I mean, as best as we can,” Desiderio Romero III, Desiderio Romero the Fifth’s grandfather said. The young man was killed, and six others injured, during a mass shooting on July 25 at an unsanctioned pop-up birthday party in an open field near Morgan Hill. Police say the gathering included about 300 people. Romero’s family says his decision to go to the party was apparently spur of the moment. “It was something ‘online’ that they sent out to a bunch of people and it was like two hours before the thing happened,” Desiderio Romero III said. Romero V’s grandfather says their last words to each other were “I love you,” and that gives him comfort. “Because if those are your last words that you hear or you gave to them, it’s like I can live with that. I mean it hurts, but the words for him to say ‘I love you poppy’, or grandpa, I mean those… I’ll never forget,” he said. That love and the regret was expressed by many. “And I feel it is such a ‘waste’ of life for a child to be taken away this quickly and in that manner,” Andre Hunt, a family friend, said. The grandfather says the sheriff’s updates on the investigation have him feeling optimistic about an arrest, but he did not want to say more to avoid complicating the case. “I hope we find him, I hope that he has to pay for this. It’s not a vengeance thing, it’s like, to ‘kill’ somebody,” Romero III said. The sheriff’s office did not provide any specific details updating the case, saying only that deputies are pursuing leads and asking anyone who might have any information, especially video from the party, to contact investigators. ...read more read less