Family and friends of former boxing champion Hector "Macho" Camacho kept a somber vigil Friday at the hospital in Puerto Rico where he remains on life support. Doctors in San Juan have said Camacho is clinically brain dead from a shooting this week in his hometown of Bayamon. But relatives and friends said they are still wrestling with whether to remove him from life support.
Camacho's oldest son, Hector Camacho Jr., told reporters that his father has not been disconnected from an artificial respirator and that he believes he is still alive.
"My father is a boxer, and we're going to let him fight for his life," he said. "The doctors have said a lot of things, but he is alive, he's in the fight."
Two of Camacho's sisters have asked that he remain on life support until Saturday. Aida Camacho, one of the boxer's aunts, said in an interview that the family was deciding whether to donate his organs. As some relatives and friends continued to pray for a miracle, condolences kept coming in for the boxer's family, and preparations have begun for memorials and a funeral Mass.
Camacho was shot Tuesday night as he sat in a car with a friend, 49-year-old Adrian Mojica Moreno, who was killed in the attack. Police spokesman Alex Diaz said officers found nine small bags of cocaine in the friend's pocket and a 10th bag open inside the car.
Police have made no arrests and continue to interview potential witnesses. Capt. Rafael Rosa told reporters Friday that they are tracking down several leads, but added that very few witnesses are cooperating. He declined to say whether police have identified any suspects.
Camacho Jr. lamented the violence that has consumed Puerto Rico, a U.S. island territory of nearly 4 million people that reported a record 1,117 homicides last year.
"Death, jail, drugs, killings," he said. "That's what the streets are now."
Camacho's sisters have said they would like to fly Camacho's body to New York and bury him there.