Ambar Lugo received a text early Sunday and immediately called her friend Omar’s sister in La Vergne to see if she was okay.
“All I needed to hear was her sniffle and that’s when I got dressed and drove over,” she said.
Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, known as just Omar Capo to everyone, was one of the 49 killed when a gunman opened fire at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning. So far he is the only Middle Tennessee connection to the tragedy.
Lugo graduated from La Vergne High School last year with the 20-year-old Capo.
A former employee at Target in Smyrna, Capo moved to Orlando shortly after his high school graduation in order to be near his mother.
“Right after we graduated last year he went straight to Florida to be closer to his mom,” Lugo said. “He’d come back here to see his step-sisters, to see his dad. Some of his friends are still here. But after that he’d go straight back to be with his mom.”
La Vergne Mayor Dennis Waldron released the following statement:
We are shocked and saddened to hear of the death of Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo of La Vergne. Our hearts mourn with the families of all the victims as well as the community of Orlando. La Vergne U.S. flags are being flown at half staff until sunset on June 16th in memory of the victims.
According to a Fox17 report, Capo made it to the hospital alive but later died. As his family understands the situation, his last communication had been on Snapchat at the nightclub but it had been before he knew it would be his last communication with them.
John Lee, a member of the Nashville Grizzlies rugby team, worked with Capo at the Smyrna Target. “I used to tease him about his hair all the time,” he said. “He was a great guy. This is … wow.”
“He was just a ray of sunshine to be around,” said Lugo. “He made everybody’s day and he was the type of person that, no matter what, he was always there for you. He was unapologetically, happily him.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to receive donations toward funeral costs.
