Cristina Tosado was a strong, take-charge woman who was born to care for people.
She helped take care of her maternal grandmother before she died in 2016. She also assisted in the care of her uncle, who died in early February 2017.
“I looked up to her because she was stronger than I was,” her mother, Silvia Barreto, said. “She saw something wrong and tried to fix it. She would try to make things better for you. She was always like this.”
On Feb. 19, 2017, shortly after her uncle was cremated, Cristina decided to go out with some friends. It was the first time she’d socialized in months, and she didn’t plan on staying out late because she had to work the next day.
As Cristina was leaving the bar near 2nd and Cambria, someone began firing a gun. She was shot and died a few hours later at Temple Hospital. She was 38.
She left behind three children, now 23, 19 and 18, and she loved them fiercely. They had already lost their father to leukemia in 2008.
Cristina was born April 23, 1978 in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. She worked as a pharmacy technician at The Medicine Shoppe in Warminster, Montgomery County. She had a long commute to get to work via public transit, but that was soon coming to an end. At the time of her death, she was looking forward to transferring to a new location in North Philly.
“They were going to buy a new pharmacy right down the block from her house and she was going to get to work there,” Silvia said. “She was so glad that she wasn’t going to have to get on the subway and take bus after bus and get home late at night.”
Previously, Cristina had worked as a certified nursing assistant and an emergency medical technician. Silvia believes she would have become a nurse if she had lived.
“She would’ve been so good as a nurse,” Silvia said. “She would’ve made a difference.”
Silvia fell recently and needed stitches in her head. It made her miss Cristina, ever the caretaker, even more.
“I kept thinking who is going to take care of me?” she said. “She was always there. She was always there for her family.”
On the first anniversary of Cristina’s death, her family gathered at the spot where she was shot and had a small candlelight vigil. They placed flowers on the sidewalk and released purple balloons.
“She is never going to be forgotten, and hopefully I’ll live long enough to see this person go to trial,” Silvia said.
Silvia’s grief is compounded by the fact that this is her second child who was murdered. One of her sons, Andre Reyes, who was 11 months younger than Cristina, was killed during a robbery in November 1996 when he was 17.
Andre, who worked at a pizzeria, had just spent practically his whole paycheck on clothes for his 8-month-old daughter when he was attacked. He only had $5 on him at the time, Silvia said. His daughter is now 21.
Andre’s case is still unsolved, and she’s had to come to terms with the fact that it might never be solved.
Silvia described Andre as a good kid who never got in trouble — a clown who was loved by everyone.
“I couldn’t ask for better kids,” she said though tears.
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