Sanctuary City paradise - 'Apple analyst' and popular S.F. DJ dies after being stabbed by mob

[Talk About Spin...]

A weeklong battle for life ended tragically Tuesday for a 29-
year-old Apple data analyst and popular DJ who was stabbed along
with another man by a mob last month outside a San Francisco
nightclub.

Joseph Razo’s close friends and family are grieving their
beloved friend, whom they described as “warm and loving.”

“He was my beautiful man,” Razo’s girlfriend of two years, Rhian
Humphries, said during an emotional interview Wednesday. “It’s
beyond surreal. You don’t expect something like this to happen
to someone you care about.”

She added that Razo “was one of those people that everyone
instantly loved. He was 6-foot-5 but a gentle giant. Everyone
wanted to be his friend. He was so warm and loving.”

The shocking attack happened outside the Cellar nightclub at
Sutter and Taylor streets in the early morning hours of Jan. 25.

Razo — who spun records at several bars around town — had been
out with three friends when the club shut down around 1:45 a.m.,
police said.

He and a friend started to head off, but noticed their other
buddies were being attacked by a mob of at least seven people in
front of the nightclub, according to reports from the San
Francisco Police Department.

Razo and his friend ran to help and were immediately pulled into
the violent fracas. Someone in the crowd then pulled out a knife
and began stabbing Razo and his friend before the group of
attackers ran off, police said.

Suffering severe wounds to his chest, Razo stumbled around the
corner and collapsed on the sidewalk in front of the Bohemian
Club on Taylor Street.

Friend recovering
Paramedics took him and his wounded friend to San Francisco
General Hospital, where they were treated in the intensive care
unit.

Razo’s friend, who was not named by police, has slowly recovered
from knife wounds to his liver and intestine. On Friday, he was
sent home from the hospital.

But Razo’s injuries were far more serious.

“He was stabbed in the aorta and he had severe internal
bleeding,” Humphries, 26, said. “His lungs collapsed. They got
those functioning again and he had daily surgeries for different
things.”

She said that Razo fought hard for his life over the next week
and that “the doctors kept saying, ‘He’s our miracle boy.’” His
family posted dozens of pictures of the young man and his
friends along with notes on a bulletin board in his hospital
room.

But on Tuesday, Razo took a turn for the worse. Doctors said
that his brain activity was affected by loss of oxygen and that
his liver failed.

The family decided to remove life support.

“About 40 people were in the hallway” when he died, Humphries
said. “I can’t described how well loved he was. His dad was
there. It was obviously pretty tough. He was suffering.”

No suspects identified

Police have not identified or arrested any suspects in the
killing.

“Homicide is looking for anyone who was a witness,” said Sgt.
Dennis Toomer, a San Francisco police spokesman. “We’re asking
anyone from the public to come forward.”

News of Razo’s death has reverberated through his extended
family around the country and in Haiti, where his mother was
born.

“He was a really wonderful, beautiful and progressive kid,” said
his uncle, Engels Souffrant, 54, who lives in New York and works
as a professional artist. “He was in the wrong place at the
wrong time.”

Razo was born in Brooklyn but grew up in Atlanta. His mother,
Souffrant’s sister, worked as an emergency room doctor in
Atlanta, where she died from cancer two years ago.

Friends like family

After graduating from high school, Razo went to Denison
University in Granville, Ohio, where he studied media technology
and Spanish.

Razo later moved to San Francisco, where he shot instructional
videos for Academy of Art University and started working as a
DJ. He soon had a large group of close friends that were like a
family, Humphries said.

In April 2014, he began working as a bilingual data analyst at
Apple and would take the commuter shuttle to the company’s
Cupertino campus from his home in the city’s Western Addition.

Shortly before landing the Apple job, Razo began dating
Humphries, who is originally from the United Kingdom, and the
two immediately fell in love.

Razo was supposed to go to Humphries’ home from the Cellar club
the morning he was stabbed, but she said he never called. She
learned the news the next morning from a friend.

“Joe, I will love you forever and always,” Humphries wrote in a
tribute to Razo on her Facebook page. “You will always be in my
heart and soul.”

Anyone with information about the killing can call the San
Francisco Police Department’s homicide tip line at (415) 431-
2127.

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Apple-analyst-and-popular-S-
F-DJ-dies-after-6804872.php