Instead, Marci spent the night at her husband’s bedside at Scott & White Memorial Hospital, where he was fighting for his life after being shot multiple times at the place where he worked.
Jamie lost that fight Monday morning.
This Friday, Marci and Jamie would have been celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary at the Mexican resort.
Instead, Marci will be laying her husband to rest. At first, Marci didn’t want to bury her husband on their anniversary but decided it would save one more day of pain next year and every year after, a family friend said.
Jamie had gone to work as usual that Thursday at Emerald Garden Apartments when he was confronted in his office and shot. Police haven’t revealed a motive for the killing. Now, they say, it is in the hands of the district attorney’s office.
Two men and a juvenile have been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The district attorney expects the charges to be upgraded to murder.
Sue Lynch, the family friend, was asked how a young woman could go on after such tragedy.
“She is a strong Christian woman,” Lynch said. “She lost her mother just about 18 months ago. Her mother was her best friend. She was just getting over that.
“She is strong,” she said.
The family are members of the Memorial Baptist Church and have been since 2001, Associate Pastor Robert Mattson said.
“Jamie’s just a very good-natured guy. He always had a willingness to help others - which was one of his priorities. He served on several committees of the church. He has worked with the teenagers and preschoolers. For several years he taught other young married couples in Sunday school,” Mattson said.
“I talked with Marci earlier today and she is doing as well as can be expected,” he said. “It will be a loss to our church as well as being a loss to his family. He was an integral part of our ministry. Telling other people about Jesus was a priority in his life. I have confidence he is in heaven today.”
Most residents of Emerald Garden refused to speak on Tuesday but those who did were angry.
“He was just doing his job, minding his business,” a tenant said, asking to remain nameless for fear of repercussions. “There are gangs around here, the police know it, we know it. This won’t be the last killing in this area. These people tell us not to talk - but I am going to talk when I want to talk,” she said. “Waste of a good life, and for what? Did they think they could come in and shoot someone and get away with it?
“I didn’t really know Mr. Lujan, just to say hello to - you know? He didn’t work here for very long, but he always said hello and smiled,” she said. “He was a baby. Just a young man doing his job.”
Lujan had been manager for just two weeks.
Another resident, who also wanted to remain anonymous, said Lujan was improving the place. “He only started working here last month. He was cleaning the place up. I think we have new owners or something because they have started to do some yard work around here.
“We have had a lot of problems here. The police are always coming down here. You see people with guns. They knock on your door in the middle of the night. I call the police - not going to open a door around here,” he said shaking his head. “They shoot the guns off outside my window.
“The new manager seemed nice. He listened if you complained about the place. I’d say this was some kind of revenge for people that have been evicted or gotten notice,” he said. “We need to get together as residents and not be scared of these people. They want us to be scared, they want to take over. We should be running them out of town and we can if we are together.”
Anthony Jerome Thomas, 23, and Andre Nathaniel Hamilton, 20, both of Temple, are in the Bell County Jail. A 16-year-old is being held in a juvenile facility.
A memorial fund has been set up at the Compass Bank in the name of Jamie Lujan.
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