FSU shooting victim Robert Morales had deep ties to South Florida
New information is emerging about 57-year-old Robert Morales, one of
two people killed
Thursday in a shooting on
Florida State University'
s campus.
Morales, who worked in FSU's dining services department for the past nine years, had deep roots in South Florida, growing up in Hialeah and was the son of the late Ricardo "Monkey" Morales, a former CIA operative and anti-Castro militant.
He had gathered for a work meeting when gunfire erupted, ending his life and shaking the university community.
Morales was raised in Hialeah and maintained strong ties to Miami.
According to
The Miami Herald
, he was the son of Ricardo "Monkey" Morales, a
Cuban-American CIA operative
who took part in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and remained involved in anti-Castro operations throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
His father died in 1982 during a bar fight in Key Biscayne at the age of 43, a loss that, according to Morales' brother, left a lasting impact on Robert during his teenage years.
Robert's brother, Ricardo Morales Jr., posted on X in the hours following the shooting, sharing his anguish as he tried unsuccessfully to reach his sibling.
"Today we lost my younger brother," he later wrote. "He loved his job at FSU and his beautiful wife and daughter. I'm glad you were in my life." The family had previously called Robert's recovery from a 2021 kidney transplant a "miracle," detailing his medical struggles on a GoFundMe page.
Also killed in the shooting was
Tiru Chabba
, a regional Vice President at Aramark Collegiate Hospitality.
In a statement, Aramark confirmed the loss, "We are heartbroken to confirm that an Aramark employee was among those killed at FSU yesterday in that senseless act of violence. We are absolutely shaken by the news and our deepest sympathies are with the family and our entire Aramark community."
Ricardo Morales Jr. told CBS News Miami that he would not be offering further comment until Robert's wife issued a statement.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
9 minutes ago
- New York Times
Judge Bars Trump Administration From Detaining Mahmoud Khalil
A federal judge on Wednesday barred the Trump administration from continuing to detain Mahmoud Khalil. However, the judge, Michael E. Farbiarz, paused his own order, saying that it would not go into effect until 9:30 a.m. on Friday, which would allow the administration to appeal. Mr. Khalil, whose wife and infant son are American citizens, has been held in Louisiana for three months. He has not been accused of a crime. This is a developing story and will be updated.
New York Post
15 minutes ago
- New York Post
Congress demands investigation into billionaire funding radical groups, including one linked to LA riots
A shadowy US billionaire who is bankrolling radicals, including groups involved in this week's riots in Los Angeles, faces being hauled before a Congressional committee, according to a Republican lawmaker. China-based Neville Roy Singham will be called to testify about his funding of myriad non-profits including radical anti-Israel and Marxist groups. They include the Party for Liberation and Socialism, which has been heavily involved in protest against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Los Angeles this week, although there is no evidence they have been directly involved in any of the violence which has erupted there. Advertisement 6 The Party for Socialism and Liberation was among the radical left-wing groups that helped organize the riots against ICE in Los Angeles this week. Toby Canham for NY Post 'If he refuses to appear, he will be subpoenaed, and if he ignores that he will be referred to the DOJ for prosecution,' said Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna in a post on X in all capital letters earlier this week. The congressional committee will be looking at Singham's links to the Chinese Communist Party, according to Luna. Advertisement 6 Radical philanthropists Jodie Evans (center) and husband Roy Singham attend the 2016 TriBeCa film fstival with film producer Abigail Disney. WireImage 6 Elias Rodriguez, the suspect in the murder of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington DC, participated in an anti-police brutality demonstration organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation in 2017. Katie Kalisher via Storyful In April, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary urged the Department of Justice to investigate the People's Forum and Code Pink, leftist activist groups affiliated with Singham and his wife Jodie Evans. Born in Chicago, the software entrepreneur and his activist wife now live in Shanghai but still funnel plenty of money back to the US. Advertisement Although they deny working for the Chinese government, they share offices with the Maku Group, a propaganda network which promotes the Chinese Communist Party abroad. 6 Jodie Evans is a co-founder of Code Pink, a women's anti-war group that also promotes North Korea. Getty Images for MoveOn 'Evidence suggests that The People's Forum and Code Pink have been funded and influenced by … Singham and the communist Chinese government, both of which are foreign principals. 'The evidence also suggests that The People's Forum and Code Pink have engaged in political activities that directly advance the communist Chinese government's political and policy interests,' said committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Advertisement 6 Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna has demanded that Neville Singham appear before her Oversight Committee to answer questions about his links to the Chinese Communist Party. AP Last year, the House Ways and Committee asked the IRS to revoke the exempt status for the People's Forum, a Manhattan-based non-profit financed by Singham. That group helped organize anti-Israel demonstrations in the city a day after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that left 1,200 Israelis dead. Some of the group's members were also behind the violent demonstrations at an encampment for Gaza at Columbia University last year. 'The Singham network operates as a coordinated movement incubator, a term used by the People's Forum itself,' said Alex Goldberg, senior advisor to the National Contagion Research Institute, a think tank that tracks disinformation on social media platforms. 'It combines media, publishing and organizing under one roof.' Most of the groups linked to Singham operate out of a Chelsea, New York, office and cafe where People's Forum regularly offers courses with titles such as 'Racial Capitalism' and 'Spanish for Social Justice.' 6 The protests against ICE in Los Angeles this week were partly organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Toby Canham for NY Post Among the Singham-linked non-profits are BreakThrough News and a radical book publishing company, 1804 Books. Advertisement 'These groups do not operate independently,' Goldberg told The Post. 'They share leadership, funding, and a unified ideological mission closely aligned with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a revolutionary Marxist organization, expanding its presence on college campuses and in major cities.' The Party for Socialism and Liberation was recently tied to Elias Rodriguez, the suspect in the shooting deaths of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington DC last month. In 2017, Rodriguez attended a police brutality demonstration as part of the radical socialist group, which immediately distanced itself from him in the wake of the shooting. Singham, 71, has not always been against the accumulation of capital. He is the founder and former chair of Thoughworks, a tech consulting company which he sold to a private equity firm in 2017 for $785 million. 'Roy Singham is incredibly charismatic,' said a source who did not want to be identified. Advertisement Evans, 70, co-founded the anti-war group Code Pink, and sits on the board of the People's Forum. She is the co-author of 'China is not our enemy,' written with Mikaela Nhondo Erskog, a researcher at another group funded by Singham. In another extreme example, Evans and another activist with Code Pink traveled to North Korea in 2015 as part of a delegation of 'Women Cross DMZ,' a pro-North Korean non-profit based in Hawaii.
Fox News
20 minutes ago
- Fox News
DOJ slams Newsom's 'crass political stunt' over Trump's call-up of National Guard amid LA anti-ICE riots
The Department of Justice (DOJ) argues the courts should deny California's request for a restraining order against the Trump administration over its decision to activate National Guard soldiers in Los Angeles after violent riots broke out over the weekend amid Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the city. Democratic leaders in California claim President Donald Trump abused his authority by invoking a provision of Title 10 that allows the president to mobilize the National Guard if an invasion or rebellion is underway. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement Monday that Trump caused the bulk of the rioting because he unnecessarily deployed the military to protect ICE personnel and federal buildings. Newsom also claimed local and state police had the situation under control when Trump spurred chaos by issuing his National Guard proclamation. Weighing in on the matter a day ahead of a scheduled hearing, the DOJ made its case that Trump had the authority to call on the National Guard's response. "In a crass political stunt endangering American lives, the Governor of California seeks to use this Court to stop the President of the United States from exercising his lawful statutory and constitutional power to ensure that federal personnel and facilities are protected," the DOJ said. "But, under the Constitution, the President is the Commander in Chief of the armed forces, and the President is responsible for ensuring the protection of federal personnel and federal facilities." Since Friday, violent rioters who object to ICE's enforcement of immigration laws have targeted and damaged federal buildings, injured federal personnel and impeded federal functions, the DOJ said. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and other state and local law enforcement officials have been unable to bring order to Los Angeles, the DOJ claimed. The agency also pointed to a comment made by LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, who said during a news conference that "things have gotten out of control" and warned that "somebody could easily be killed." "Evaluating the unrest and threats to the enforcement of federal law that local and state authorities were unable or unwilling to control, the President responded by using the authority vested in him by statute and the Constitution to federalize and deploy the California National Guard to protect federal personnel and property, quell the mobs, and restore order," the DOJ wrote. "When the situation escalated further, the Secretary of Defense deployed a group of U.S. Marines to further assist. "The President has every right under the Constitution and by statute to call forth the National Guard and Marines to quell lawless violence directed against enforcement of federal law," the DOJ continued. "Yet instead of working to bring order to Los Angeles, California and its Governor filed a lawsuit in San Francisco seeking a court order limiting the federal government's ability to protect its property and officials." The DOJ said California's request would "countermand" the president's military directives, which would be "unprecedented." "On the merits, Plaintiffs' claims are baseless," the DOJ said. Newsom also claimed Trump never consulted with him before activating the National Guard, though the statute does not have such a requirement, the DOJ said. "It merely directs, as a procedural matter, that the President's orders be conveyed "through" the Governor," the DOJ wrote. "They were." Historically, courts did not interfere when former President Dwight Eisenhower deployed the military to protect school desegregation, nor did they interfere when former President Richard Nixon deployed the military to deliver the mail during a postal strike. Ultimately, the DOJ recommended the court deny California and Newsom's motion for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction. Newsom's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
