SAN ANTONIO – Nearly a week after a triple shooting in the Anaqua Springs Ranch neighborhood, crowds gathered to light hundreds of candles in memory of the three people killed.
Nichol Olsen was found dead at a home in the Far Northwest Side community, along with her 16-year-old daughter, Alexa Montez, and a 10-year-old girl, who, though not officially identified yet, was named by many at the vigil as Olsen's other daughter, London.
Sad and somber faces filled the Oblate Grotto, each grieving for Olsen and her daughters.
“I want them to cry. I want them to vent. I want them to hug. I want everyone to love each other and just be together in this time,” said Nicole Baptiste, a friend of the family and the vigil’s organizer.
The number of people who turned out was a comfort for Alexa Montez’s father.
“It makes me happy to know that they were so loved and they're going to be missed,” said Carlos Montez.
Even as they mourned, loved ones remembered the better times and the good memories, though the raw hurt occasionally shone through.
Underneath it all looms the pressing question of what exactly led up to the deaths of the three people. Though the Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled the girls’ deaths as homicides and Olsen’s a suicide, there was a strong feeling at the vigil that Olsen was not responsible.
“Everybody wants to support Nichol and step forward and defend her honor,” said Debra Fox, a family friend.
“We all firmly believe together as three families that Nicole's a victim in this,” Carlos Montez said.
But for now, the questions remain, and the mourners must wait for answers.
“I think that the family and her friends are going to do everything we can to make sure that the truth comes to light,” Baptiste said.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said the investigation into the case in ongoing and what his investigators end up with could be different than what the medical examiner has ruled.