There is terrible news coming out of Mexico this week as media reports say Jose Arredondo, a U.S. citizen and father of K-Pop star Samuel, was reportedly beaten to death in Cabo San Lucas. The 58-year-old, who is the well-known owner of a car dealership in Bakersfield, California, was found dead on Tuesday morning in a condominium with “signs of blunt force trauma,” police said. According to a local media outlet, Tribunal de Los Cabos, Arredondo was discovered “laying on the floor with several wounds caused by a knife in the back.” 

This story is shocking on many fronts as authorities try to uncover more details on how this all could have happened.

Arredondo was a revered family and community member in the Bakersfield area who came to the United States at the age of 11 from the Mexican state of Michoacan. He would work his way up to own several local dealerships after starting off washing cars in Los Angeles. Arredondo would be promoted to become a salesman that would be the start of a career auto retail industry. 

One of Arredondo’s closest friends was Rev. James Ranger, the lead pastor at New Life Church, where he attended for 20 years. Ranger told Bakersfield.com that Arredondo was “the real deal” and an individual would constantly give back to the church, this included donating brand-new cars to the church for fundraising. 

“He was tough as nails but he had a beautiful heart,” Ranger said about his good friend. 

While Samuel’s father came from Mexico and his mother from Korea, he was born in the U.S. Samuel, whose full name is Samuel Kim Arredondo, rose to stardom at a young age. He would appear in many of his father’s car dealership commercials and sing. He would also appear on the online show Seventeen TV before making it big on the K-pop scene. 

There has been much support and condolences that have been pouring in since the news broke.  

Many of Samuel’s fans have taken to social media to share their thought and deep condolences for the tragic news of his father’s passing. “My condolence. I hope that you are surrounded by your loved ones and I know it’s hard but please stay strong, you’re not alone Samuel #StayStrongSamuel,” one user wrote on Twitter. 

Another fan took the time to write out a short personal message for Samuel. She said that many of his fans are standing right there with him during this difficult time. 

“Dear Samuel, I know you’re not fine right now… What you’re facing is so hard and depressing but always remember… We-your fans- will always be here with you. We had your back. Always. Sending all the love I can give. Louise Lazaro. Your fan.”

This untimely death has struck the Bakersfield community as much as it has many of Samuel’s fans. 

Arredondo played a huge role in his community and many have shown their support and how he affected their lives personally. Besides being a car dealership owner, Arredondo played a pivotal role in encouraging children to stay in school and pursue higher education. He also was a big supporter in feeding farm labor workers in the nearby Central Valley.

Francisco Duran, who was a fan of Arredondo growing up, wrote on Facebook that the news hit him hard. He was one of those that was personally touched many of his positive car commercials. 

“Sad news. I was thinking about quitting Bakersfield College back in 1995 when I saw him on TV. He was encouraging kids to stay in school. He changed my mind about quitting.”

John Pitre, the chief operations officer at Motor City Buick GMC and Motor City Lexus of Bakersfield, told the Bakersfield.com that the untimely death was a “tragic event.” Pitre noted that Arredondo played a big role in the car dealers business. 

“He was a valuable member of our community and we’re certainly going to miss him,” Pitre said. “We’re certainly in mourning and we’ll say a prayer for him.”

While there are still many questions about the case there are still no suspects that have been identified at this time, investigators said.

READ: Korean Boy Band BTS Opened A Pop-Up Shop In Mexico City And The City Lost Its Mind

So BTS is a big deal. And in Mexico it’s no different, the country is home to some seriously dedicated fans.

Chicos and chicas alike are obsessed with the Korean boy band but sadly the group has only given one concert in Mexico City, back in 2015.

So this was the announcement that everyone had been waiting for.

Though for those not living near CDMX, they were disappointed the collection wouldn’t immediately be available online.

But now the BT21 store is officially open in Mexico City and people are losing their minds.

Many on Twitter we’re anxiously waiting in-line and live-Tweeting the play by play for those of us that couldn’t be there.

There was already a lot of hype leading up to the actual opening.

Like they had to tweet out this reminder to stay calm, bring water, and be prepared to wait.

Pretty much everyone agreed that the line for the pop-up shop was bigger than the lines to go to an actual BTS concert.

Now imagine the line at Mexico’s next BTS concert. But it’s obvious their fans in Mexico are dedicated and come hail, sleet, snow, or rain, it wouldn’t matter, they’d still show up in droves.

People were taking photos and posing with whatever they could.

And thankfully, the shop thought ahead and provided plenty of life-size cutouts of each of the singers along with all sorts of cute decorations.

But most were after the dolls created by each member of BTS.

Tata, RJ, Mang, Chimmy, Cooky, Shooky, Koya are the names of the animated characters created by Jungkook, Taehyung, Jimin, Namjoon, Jin, Hoseok and Yoongi, members of the K-Pop band.

Many took to Twitter to share their hauls from the pop-up.

How cute is this stuff?!

Some realized that the Mexico City store even had things that other stores didn’t.

Translation: “oooh they have things that they don’t have in the Times Square store! Kinda jealous but Mexico deserves it.”

Many on Twitter were just speechless that a BT21 store had arrived in the Mexican capital.

After nearly four years without a BTS concert in the city, many were shocked that they would open up a shop in the city.

The fact that BTS had chosen Mexico City as the first location for a pop-up in all of Latin America lends some serious cred to the city.

The all boy Korean band has only been to Mexico City once before but they’ve played Sao Paulo several times.

Many from outside the country may not have realized but BTS is basically at the level of la Virgen de Guadalupe in terms of fandom.

And few would actually line up in numbers like they did for this pop-up shop.

Which leaves us wondering, when will BTS do their next show in Mexico?

READ: BTS Is Making Millions Of Dollars On Their Career But Groups Are Sharing Stories Of The Abuse Rampant In The K-Pop Industry