Helena Vargas was 59 when she was shot and killed during a delivery for her family’s restaurant, the Golden Wok, on the evening of August 23, 2016, in Waterbury, Connecticut. She lived in Waterbury for about 30 years and was described as a mother and grandmother who helped others. Her co-worker Rolando Alvarez was driving; when he stepped out to make the last delivery on Linden Street, he was ambushed and robbed. Alvarez heard Vargas scream Papi followed by two gunshots. She was shot in the neck, taken to a nearby hospital, and died of her injuries.

Waterbury police arrested four teenagers the next day: 19-year-old Anthony Wright, a 16-year-old boy, and two girls aged 16 and 17. All were charged with felony murder, first-degree robbery, and conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery. Prosecutors described Wright as a known member of the Crips and called the robbery extremely vicious and unnecessary. In November 2018 one teen, Niyomi Schofield, then 16 at the time of the killing, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery.

The case also raised concerns about the city’s 911 dispatching after the dispatcher who took Alvarez’s frantic call was later fired for mishandling the emergency and struggling to understand Alvarez’s English. Does anyone have information about the Linden Street delivery or remembers activity in that neighborhood that night?