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Candlelit vigil held for 22-year-old fatally shot in the head in Morris Heights

Family and friends gathered to mourn his death and call for justice, remembering him as a loving father and a young man with a bright future ahead.

Jodi-Juliana Powell

Jun 26, 2025, 6:25 PM

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A candlelit vigil was held Thursday for 22-year-old Julius Vargas, who was fatally shot in the head while sitting in his car in Morris Heights.

Family and friends gathered to mourn his death and call for justice, remembering him as a loving father and a young man with a bright future ahead.

Vargas, a father of two, leaves behind a 4-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son. The mother of his children holding back tears as she speaks about him.

"Those kids were everything to him, everything. Everywhere he went, he talked about them," she said.

She said he was starting to turn his life around for them saying he wanted to join the Army.

"I'm hurt, lost, confused, scared," she added.

At the vigil, a display of candles spelled out "Juju," Vargas' nickname, as family and friends gathered outside his apartment in Hunts Point.

His grandmother expressed her grief.

"It's not fair they took him away from us. He's only 22 years old. Come on, he's a baby," she said.

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