Orlando couple set to be married will be buried together
Juan Ramon Guerrero, a 22-year-old student and telemarketer, was one of the first people identified as having been killed in the Pulse shootings that saw 48 others die.
Humberto Zuninga didn’t know Guerrero well, but the release of his name gave him a spasm of fear. Zuninga was a good friend of Guerrero’s boyfriend and soon-to-be husband, Christopher “Drew” Leinonen.
“When we heard Juan’s name, we knew,” Zuninga said. “They were always together.”
They were right.
Drew Leinonen, 32, died alongside Guerrero. Family members of Guerrero said the two were set to be married. Instead, they will have a joint funeral.
Guerrero’s father told Time magazine that the families want them buried side-by-side.
“I think my son wanted to do that. That’s why,” the father, also named Juan Ramon Guerrero, 61, told the magazine through tears. “I don’t care what the people think. I don’t care.”
At Monday’s vigil, Zuninga and other friends held up fliers emblazoned with the couple’s smiling faces. The border was wrapped in a rainbow.
Zuninga said he actually met Leinonen several years ago at Pulse.
“He was a warm, welcoming person,” Zuninga said. “He actually started talking to me. He touched a lot of people."
He last saw Leinonen Friday at another club.
“He came up and gave me a hug and we chit-chatted about hanging out soon," Zuninga said.
Jon Bordeaux met Leinonen about 10 years ago when both were students at the University of Central Florida.
“Every time he saw me, he would grab me for a hug,” Bordeaux said.
The two last talked about a month ago.
About the Author
Ernie Suggs is an enterprise reporter covering race and culture for the AJC since 1997. A 1990 graduate of N.C. Central University and a 2009 Harvard University Nieman Fellow, he is also the former vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists. His obsession with Prince, Spike Lee movies, Hamilton and the New York Yankees is odd.
