- Zahriya Moreno was taken off life support after a deadly altercation
A father wept over his 22-year-old daughter’s hospital bed before she was taken away to donate her organs after she was killed during an argument with her boyfriend.
Robert Moreno was seen crouching over the body of his daughter Zahriya on Wednesday after she was taken off life support at Banner University Healthcare in Tucson, Arizona.
Highly emotional footage shows Zahriya, whose twin brother Izac died in a motorcycle accident in 2021, being taken away for surgery as more than 100 family members, friends and staff applaud.
This custom is known as an honor walk.
Robert Moreno cries over his daughter Zahriya’s hospital bed before she was wheeled away for organ donation surgery after she was fatally injured during an argument with her boyfriend
Zahriya is pictured being wheeled out of her hospital room after being taken off life support
The young beautician-in-training lost her twin brother in a motorcycle accident in 2021, with Zahriya’s tragic death causing further heartache for her grieving family
More than 100 people showed up to wave and clap Zahriya off at Banner University Healthcare in Tuscon. The practice of forming an honor guard for someone who has donated their organs is known as an honor walk
Robert, who works as a fire captain, said COLD: ‘Because we lost our twins, the future is going to be very dark and we are going to get through it, no matter how hard it is, because that is what our daughter would have wanted for us.
“I’m devastated.”
The bereaved father says Zahriya has never come to terms with the death of her brother Izac, adding: ‘It’s beautiful to know that parts of my baby will live on, but there are no words, nothing that can ever make this better.’
Zahriya died Monday after an argument with her 25-year-old boyfriend Angelito Adrian Olivas, police said.
It is said that she jumped on the trunk of his car to try to stop him, but Olivas did so as well, causing Zahriya to fall from the moving vehicle to her death.
Olivas found his girlfriend, with whom he had been living for a year and a half, unconscious and drove her to a nearby fire station. She was rushed to the hospital and later declared brain dead.
Zahriya climbed into the trunk of her boyfriend’s car during an argument and he drove away with her still in it, officers say. She later fell from the vehicle and was fatally injured
Robert Moreno, pictured, explained how his family lost their son Izac – Zahriya’s twin brother – in a motorcycle accident in 2021
Zahriya Moreno, 22, was taken off life support by her family on Wednesday after suffering injuries when she was thrown from her boyfriend’s car on Monday
Olivas has been arrested on charges of domestic violence, aggravated assault and battery.
Robert said he woke up on Wednesday knowing Zahriya would be taken off life support
Zahriya’s father said of the parade: “I never expected the outpouring of support in a million years,” he said.
“I thought it would just be family and friends.”
He and his family described Zahriya as a “very strong girl” who “had just graduated from beautician school.”
She was active in JROTC and wanted to do that full-time.
Olivas has since been arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, aggravated assault and endangering people.
Later that day, he was released after posting $2,500 bail, much to Robert’s anger.
“It almost seemed like a joke,” he said.
“I am disappointed in the judge, in the legal system.”