The first thing his loved ones mention about him is his smile.
To the friends and family of Richard Duran, the warmth, humor and, above all, vivaciousness captured in that smile make it all the more shocking that the 22-year-old is no longer with them.
Things on South 3rd Street between Havemeyer Street and Marcy Avenue, the block where Duran grew up and lived, have not been the same since Monday, July 14. In the early morning hours the previous Saturday, Duran was murdered on the heels of a dispute between two groups at the Giglio festival earlier in the evening.
His alleged assailant, Michael Torres, 18, a Bushwick Avenue resident, has not been apprehended, according to police. Neighborhood residents have speculated Torres might have fled to Florida or Pennsylvania.
Duran leaves behind a community reeling from the shock of losing a good-natured young man who seemed an unlikely candidate for a violent death.
“It was impossible to be upset with that kid,” said Herbie Morales, Duran’s brother-in-law. “He had a heart of gold.”
And a sense of humor, according to his brother, Manuel Duran.
“He liked to goof around with everyone. He was just cool with everybody. Everybody knew my brother. He was just a straight-up cool dude,” he said.
Nicole Palladino, who manages the Sea Gate Beach Club where Duran used to work, said, “He had a personality of his own kind. He was a funny kid. He was the type of person who would say it as it is and speak his mind.”
At the time of his death, Duran was working for a courier service.
Close friend Shabrily Gil described Duran as “so young and full of life. He was a unique person – that’s why everyone’s so sad.”
“He touched so many people. He was a brother, he was a friend, he was a homeboy, he was a mama’s boy. But he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Duran graduated from local schools P.S. 84 and J.H.S. 50 before attending Progress High School – part of Grand Street Campus – but he never graduated.
Manuel Duran said his brother’s dream was to become a Marine, but he recently learned about a heart condition that made him ineligible for military service.
“That’s all he ever talked about, that’s all he wanted to do. He had poster in his room of [the movies] ‘Platoon’ and ‘Black Hawk Down.’ He was a ‘war junkie.’”
He was a also a huge sports fan, partial to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Seattle Mariners, though he liked the hometown Giants and Yankees as well. According to Manuel, his brother shared a common pastime of New Yorkers: he loved to argue about sports.
Duran was also a gifted athlete. Though he never played on his high school football team, he gained renown in the neighborhood for his “street football” skills.
Southside resident Antonio Reynoso said Duran was a regular at his family’s “Turkey Bowl” Thanksgiving football game in Sternberg Park.
“He was one of the fastest, quickest kids around. Usually, it was just my family, but Rich kept showing up year after year. After awhile, it was just like, ‘Ok, you can play.’ But Rich was like that – everyone knew him and everyone liked him.”
