Pico-Union parish unites behind family after father is charged with killing his sons

When Father Mario Torres told the grieving mother he’d pray for her and the two little boys she had lost, she asked him to remember someone else.

Their father, she told him. He needed the prayers.

The boys, Jimmy, 4, and Osmani Gramajo, 11, were shot Oct. 11 a few blocks away from St. Thomas the Apostle Church in the Pico-Union neighborhood of Los Angeles, where Torres is pastor. Police believe their father killed them before turning the gun on himself. He was in custody while receiving hospital treatment.

Now it has fallen to Torres to console the mother, a parishioner at St. Thomas, and the grieving community at one of LA’s busiest parishes. 

Every evening at 7 p.m., people have been gathering at the boys’ memorial near their home to pray the rosary: Family friends, neighbors and parishioners.

For the boys’ aunt, Marilsa, those visits have brought strength at a time when she and her sister have struggled to find it. 

They have helped the sisters know they are not alone.

At St. Thomas, the loss reaches into a family already woven into parish life. Marilsa is active in the church. Father Torres remembers the boys’ older brother serving as an altar server, and Osmani attended the parish’s religious education program.

“It was a big shock,” Father Torres said of learning what had happened.

Marilsa described Osmani as an affectionate, tender child. Father Torres said Osmani’s mother had also spoken to him about her son’s involvement in religious education.

Now, the priest who knew the family through the life of the parish is helping them prepare to say goodbye.

He has offered to celebrate the funeral Mass without charge. He has also offered food and help with other needs, letting both sisters know they can turn to him and the parish.

“I try to be present,” he said.

Speaking in Spanish, Marilsa described how difficult it has been to process everything confronting the family. There is so much information, so much to absorb, that facing it alone feels beyond what she and her sister can manage.

Neighbors, friends, relatives and the parish have helped sustain them, she said. The support has given them strength to keep facing what comes next.

Her gratitude does not make the loss any smaller. It speaks to the importance of having people nearby while trying to bear it.

That response has extended beyond St. Thomas. Loyola High School, located steps away from the crime scene, helped organize a lunchtime prayer service on Thursday, Oct. 15 in front of the school and invited Torres. The gathering drew firefighters, Loyola students and the school’s president, and a representative of Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez’s office.

Father Torres saw people approach her and offer financial help directly. He described the gathering as an opportunity to be there for her.

As people have made room for the grieving family, the boys’ mother has also made room for another person mourning them.

When relatives gathered to pray, she sent for the children’s paternal grandmother to join them, Father Torres recounted.

She told him that her former husband’s mother bore no blame for what had happened. The grandmother had always been good to her and her children.

She wanted her there, praying alongside them.

For Father Torres, the responsibility now is to keep that circle of support around her.

He wants to offer counseling and continue reaching out in the months ahead. He described the mother as being in shock and said he knows she will need help beyond these first days, when so many people are gathering nearby.

“We’ll be reaching out,” he said.

At 7 p.m., the community gathers again. The prayers hold the names of two boys, the sorrow of those who love them, and a commitment that must continue beyond any single evening.

For a mother who asked that others be remembered in prayer, her parish is offering a promise of its own: to keep remembering her, too.