Martial arts community mourns the loss of instructor, victim of Whispering Palms homicide
KESQ & CBS Local 2 has confirmed the identity of the victim in the Cathedral City Wednesday night homicide as local Jiu-Jitsu instructor Ramon Diaz. Diaz’s identity was confirmed by the students and staff of Palm Springs Jiu-Jitsu, where Diaz was an instructor. Diaz was 46.
“We are shocked and saddened by the passing of Palm Springs Jiu-Jitsu’s Professor Ramon,” reads a post from another local martial arts school, Coachella Valley Judo & Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. “We send our deepest condolences to his loved ones and to our valleys Jiu-Jitsu community. RIP Ramon.”
Cub Swanson, a local mixed martial arts star, offered his own message about Diaz’s passing via Twitter.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/CubSwanson/status/979444532558233600″,”author_name”:”Cub Swanson”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/CubSwanson”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;RIP to the Amazing Man who introduced me to BJJ and MMA. Ramon Diaz was my first instructor & I can honestly say that if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be where I am today &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/xjUQU6CQ7m”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/xjUQU6CQ7m&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;– Cub Swanson (@CubSwanson) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/CubSwanson/status/979444532558233600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;March 29, 2018&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
“The Brazilian jiu-jitsu community has lost a not only a respected martial artist, but also a man committed to improving the lives of those around him,” read a Jiu-Jitsu Times article memorializing Diaz.
Just before 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Cathedral City police were dispatched to assist paramedics with a possible assault victim in the 31300 block of Whispering Palms trail in Cathedral City. Officers found the victim, Ramon Diaz, suffering trauma to the body. Diaz later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital, according to a CCPD news release.
Family members are trying to raise $10,000 for Diaz’s funeral costs.
“He always encouraged people to be a better version of themselves and enjoyed life,” a GoFundMe page created Thursday read. “He was an important person to the Jiu-Jitsu community, a husband, family man, instructor, overall someone very important and impactful to many people.”
To contribute to Diaz’s funeral costs, visit https://www.gofundme.com/5c28hog.
At the time of this publication, the campaign had raised $3,215 toward its $10,000 goal.
Anyone with additional information relating to this case is encouraged to contact Detective Barkley, or Sergeant Sanchez, at (760) 202-2488.
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