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Murdered High School Student Was Caught in a Love Triangle, Family Says

By Sybile Penhirin | January 21, 2016 5:07pm
 Jovani Cubias was a lovable, happy teen, who never got into troubles, his relatives said.
Jovani Cubias, was murdered because of his girlfriend's past relationship, his family said
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BROOKLYN — The high school junior fatally stabbed just a few blocks from his school was caught in a love triangle with the ex-boyfriend of the girl he was dating, relatives said on Thursday. 

Jovani Cubias, 17, a student at The Green School at 223 Graham Ave., died Wednesday night at Bellevue Hospital after a fight involving a group of young men and women near Sternberg Park, police said.

Family members said that the 22-year-old ex-boyfriend of the girl he was dating had been spoiling for a fight with him all week.

The rivals were scheduled to meet in the park earlier in the week to settle their differences, but his older brother urged him not to go, Lorena Juarez, his half-sister, said. Cubias, who was also reluctant, skipped the meeting.

On Wednesday morning, the day Cubias died, his girlfriend of about a year came to pick him up at his family's East Flatbush apartment before school, Blanca Cubias, the boy's mother, said.

It was the second time in a few weeks that she came to pick him up before both of them headed to The Green School, she said.

On Wednesday a group confronted Cubias near his school about 4:30 p.m. and a fight broke out, relatives and police said.

During the scuffle, one of the boys involved in the fight plunged a knife into Cubias' torso, before fleeing the scene, police said. He was later pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital, according to authorities.

Investigators have not identified a suspect in the teen's murder, but said it was linked to a dispute between Cubias and another man.

"I want justice. it's my baby, my youngest, he didn't deserve this. He was a humble nice kid, always smiling", his grieving mother said in Spanish on Thursday.

The friends and family, immigrants from El Salvador, gathered in the mother's apartment to mourn his death.

"He was always happy, never complained about anything" Juarez said.

"I told him: finish high school, go to college, be the first one in the family [to go to college] and he was on his way to do that. He was my little brother, you know, it's hard to believe he's gone. We were so close. I'm heartbroken," the 24-year old said before tearing up.  

Diane, Cubias' childhood friend who didn't want to share her last name, said the teen and his mother, an office cleaner, were often seen together.  

"If his mother went to the supermarket, he would go with her, help her carry the bags, he was very protective of her," she said, "He was often home, positive, smiling, he wasn't a trouble maker or anything like that."

"We just want justice, we want the person who did that to pay for what they did," Juarez said.