Aminta Marinero was oddly comforted when paramedics told her that the love of her life was shot in the heart. Having practiced nursing for years, she said she knew that it was less painful for him, compared to being shot in the lung.

Her boyfriend, 22-year-old Rafael Araiza, was shot and killed while sitting in a car in the Washington neighborhood last week. He was a family man who left behind a 6-year-old son and girlfriend of 10 years, according to his loved ones.

“‘My dad is in heaven,’” 21-year-old Marinero recalls her son saying. “I’m just blessed that my son doesn’t fully understand it because he could get some sleep,” she continues, with tears in her eyes. “And I just watch him all night sleeping, and I want to sleep like that but I can’t.”

Marinero said that their son, Fabio Araiza Marinero, has seen the movie “Coco,” so he has “a little idea” that he’s in an afterlife. At an altar inside the living room of their Central Long Beach home, Fabio gazes upon the lit candles and photos of his father’s face. The boy looks at his clothes before he goes to bed.

The Long Beach Police Department says an unknown person approached Rafael Araiza and shot him the night of June 24 on Cedar Avenue and 15th Street outside of Washington Middle School. Police said there’s no known motive or suspects.

Marinero said she saw Araiza about 15 to 20 minutes before he was killed; she said he left in the car to pick up a childhood friend to attend a vigil together.

According to Marinero, Araiza waited in his idle car with emergency lights blinking when the friend who Araiza intended to pick up discovered him shot in the car. The friend ran to their home about a mile away to tell Araiza’s family.

“I don’t ever really want to know,” Marinero said about the night of Araiza’s death, “because that will never get him back.”

Police are investigating this shooting as gang-related, which the LBPD defines as any crime committed “for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with any criminal street gang.” Marinero said that Araiza was not a gang member but did have friends who were.

Marinero said she saw his body at the scene about an hour after he died.

Marinero’s sister, 20-year-old Unique, said she’s now sharing the bed with her sister, who’s “not used to sleeping alone.”

She remembers Araiza for his kindness, recalling that he recently bought a bunk bed so that Unique, who was living in an unstable home, has a place to sleep when she’d visit.

“He was a family man,” Unique said.

Araiza attended nursing school and died seven months before his scheduled graduation, Marinero said. He was studious and organized, she said. He set a diagram of the human body and its pulse points as the wallpaper of his tablet, so he’d memorize it for his tests. He’d use flashcards to memorize medical terminology for his quizzes and neatly take notes in his books. Marinero inspired Araiza to pursue nursing, following in her footsteps.

He bought a $200 stethoscope, she said, chuckling, “always overdoing stuff.”

Araiza had hobbies including boxing, rapping and practicing at a local shooting range. He was outgoing, too. “If he made eye contact with you, he’ll try to make conversation,” she said.

The couple was inseparable, having been boyfriend and girlfriend since age 12. Marinero said they first met at 11 years old in the middle of a water-balloon fight. “He fell in love with me ever since,” she said.

They attended Washington Middle School and then Cabrillo High School, and when Marinero became pregnant at 15, they moved to Educational Partnership High School to be able to work and attend school to graduate. After that, Marinero said Araiza worked full time to financially support her and their son while she attended nursing school.

“He gave me a great life ever since I met him,” she said.

On Saturday, July 3, Araiza’s family will be hosting a comida, a food fundraiser, at 1765 Atlantic Ave. to collect funds for his funeral costs. Marinero also launched an online fundraiser shortly after he was killed. His funeral will be scheduled for July 14 in the city of Cypress, she said.

Rafael Ortiz, Araiza’s father, shared few words about his slain son but said in Spanish that he’ll miss “everything” about him. “What else can I tell you? This is very hard.”