Though it’s been 30 years since Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was shot and killed, her family remembers it like it was yesterday.
In the new Netflix documentary, “Selena y Los Dinos: A Family Legacy,” the family of the late Mexican American singer — who was murdered on March 31, 1995, in Corpus Christi, Texas — detailed the aftermath of the fatal shooting, and explained how they’ve managed to find the “beauty” in her death all these years later.
Yolanda Saldívar, who served as the late star’s close friend and president of her fan club, killed Selena after her pal allegedly discovered she had embezzled a reported $30,000 from her clothing boutiques. To this day, Saldívar still denies ever stealing.
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Selena was taken to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital, where doctors attempted to revive her.
“I went up, and now my uncles are there and my aunt and everybody was crying,” an emotional Suzette Quintanilla, Selena’s older sister, said in the documentary. “I walked in, and my mother was with her head down, and she was crying.”
“I asked my dad, “Where’s Selena?'” her brother, A.B. Quintanilla, recalled while fighting back tears. “I said, ‘Is she OK?’ And he says, ‘I don’t think so, Mijo. I don’t think so.”
Selena’s husband, Chris Pérez — a former band member who married Selena when she was 20 years old — detailed the life-defining moment he knew his wife had died.
“I came to the hospital. They take me to a room and her family’s in there. When I looked, and I saw Marcy [Selena’s mother], you know, and I saw the condition she was in, I knew. Like that’s … that’s when it hit me.”
Selena was pronounced dead of hypovolemic shock. She was 23.
“Death is a very painful thing, especially if it’s your child,” Selena’s father, Abraham Quintanilla, said. “You can never understand it unless it happens to you. I mean you understand it’s going to hurt, but not the depth of the feeling. Sometimes it just hits me. But it is what it is. And we can’t change that.”
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Selena started singing around the age of 6 — “she had a strong voice, a good ear,” Abraham told Fox News in 2015.
“People perceived her as a down-to-earth person, everything about her was sincere and honest,” Abraham said. “It was not just the talent. People loved her — they loved her singing, her natural talent.”
Abraham created a band with Selena, her brother A.B. on the bass and her sister Suzette on the drums and named them Selena y Los Dinos.
“It was just a challenge, and it worked,” the 76-year-old said. “We had a little trouble to get them interested, but when they learned their first song, that’s when it changed.”
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Selena went on to become the “Queen of Tejano Music,” changing the landscape for Mexican American music as one of the most influential female singers of the 20th century.
In February 2024, Saldívar sat down for a prison interview featured in an Oxygen docuseries, “Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them.”
Saldívar claimed she had no intention of killing Selena, but instead, she insisted she wanted to end her own life. However, in a series of unfortunate events, the gun allegedly went off and hit the 23-year-old instead.
“It startled me,” Saldívar said. “I did not know my gun went off. I did not know that it hit her. It scared her, it scared me. There was never ever any intention to do her any harm.”
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“My decisions were my decisions, and the consequences were also mine,” she said. “I’m regretful for all of that. If I could turn back time, if I could turn the clock, I think a lot of things wouldn’t be as they [are]. And I want the people to know I miss Selena just like they do. So much. But I know I will see her again in heaven. I know I will. She didn’t deserve to die.”
“I am so sorry that she’s gone,” said Saldívar. “I’m so sorry that her family is hurting. And I’m so sorry that my family is hurt. At no point did I mean to hurt anyone.”
In the Netflix documentary, Selena’s family made no mention of Saldívar and focused primarily on their loved one and the legacy she left.
“I do miss her a lot,” said Pérez. “But today I’m very proud of what she represents and the small part that I might play in that story. I think that’s true for all of us.”
“My mother shared with me that there’s beauty within this ugliness that has happened,” Suzette said. “For a very long time, I did not grasp that at all. But I understand now what Selena means to people. What she represents as a culture, and it’s beautiful.”
“Selena, for the Latinos, brought hope to the Mexican-American community,” A.B. added. “For some little girl somewhere, or some little boy dreaming, that’s what the songs are for. They’re for you.”
“It’s their music,” he added.
