Cirak Tesfazgi, Santa Rosa slaying victim, recalled as gentle and kind soul

Women draped in traditional hand-woven white scarves let out a collective wail of grief and sorrow Saturday as Cirak Tesfazgi’s coffin was lowered into a newly dug grave at a Windsor cemetery.

His weeping mother, Elsa Tewoldeberhan, was surrounded by Tesfazgi’s sisters and family friends who sought to console her. Nearly all of the men in the crowd of about 200 people - most of them Eritreans - stood solemn, their arms crossed or hands clasped in front of them.

Tesfazgi’s father, Mateos Tesfazgi, with the help of others, made his way to the gravesite at the Shiloh Annex of Santa Rosa Memorial Park and called out a message in his Eritrean tongue of Tigrinya.

“He’s saying he lived all his life, all these years, and (his son’s life) was so short,” said Thomas Isack of Santa Rosa, a friend of the family.

Isack was among the throng of people who attended a memorial service and burial Saturday for Tesfazgi, a 32-year-old Santa Rosa man who was killed last week in a violent attack downtown.

Tesfazgi, who often slept on the street, was discovered before 1 a.m. Monday in a building alcove on Riley Street, where police say he suffered more than 50 wounds in a stabbing attack with a chef’s knife.

The man considered by police to be a person of interest in his slaying, a 23-year-old former Baltimore man also living on the street, was arrested Wednesday after police said he sought to stab to death another man, a stranger, inside the Roxy Theater. Both downtown attacks appear to be random, police said, and the second victim, Adam Lucero, 21, is expected to survive, police said.

Tesfazgi was a familiar face around town, where he spent a great deal of time writing poetry at cafes and the library. Born in San Francisco, he was one of six siblings and graduated from Santa Rosa High School in 2002. He studied English literature at Sonoma State University, where he graduated in 2011.

Although he spent many of his nights on the street, he had a key to his mother’s Santa Rosa apartment, where he would eat, shower and rest.

He was recalled last week by those who encountered him as a polite, gentle and smiling individual.

The violence surrounding his death has only fueled the grief of family and friends, as well as those who saw him on a regular basis.

“I don’t know what he would want me to do, but I’m just going to do what I have to,” said his brother Eddy Tesfazgi, speaking at the memorial service at Eggen and Lance Chapel in Santa Rosa.

“I’m going to move on from this eventually, but I don’t have no peace with it because of the way he’s gone ... and if you have a brother, you understand how I feel,” his brother added.

The service was conducted by priests from the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Santa Rosa. The lead priest, dressed in green and gold colored robes, recited prayers that were mournfully answered by the audience.

In a brief biography handed out at the memorial service, the family ?described Tesfazgi as a ?studious young man ?who was humble and kind.

He struggled with depression or a related affliction, according to his mother. His involvement several years ago in a traumatic vehicle collision “greatly affected his well-being and presented challenges in his life,” the family wrote in the biography. “Nevertheless Cirak overcame those difficulties and stayed committed to improving himself as a person.”

The ceremony drew members of the community that knew him as well as those who met him on the street. Several downtown workers who often saw him on Riley Street attended the ceremony.

“I really wanted to see where he came from and who he came from,” said Alan Powell, a county employee who works on Riley Street and often saw Tesfazgi.

Powell said his mother, who died this year, was cared for by Eritrean women at a Santa Rosa assisted living facility. He said he wanted to meet Tesfazgi’s “community and get to know them and just be a witness.”

He remembered Tesfazgi as a well spoken young man with a big smile and a “huge bounce to his step that everybody recognized.”

He echoed what he said was the best description he’d read about Tesfazgi since his death. “You feel like he blessed you as he walked by,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish.