As hard as it is trying to cope with the grief and loss of a loved one, Tequila Long is finding the strength to speak out to remember her sister Shanquella Robinson and to share one of their final moments together.
While speaking exclusively to @essence, Long also talks about the unbelievable pain that she and her family have been suffering since they received the news about Shanquella’s tragic death. As it was previously reported Shanquella passed away last month while on a trip to Los Cabos, Mexico, with a group of people who she considered to be her friends. A day after arriving in the popular tourist city, she was found unconscious in their rental property. She died soon after. While her “friends” claimed her death was a result of alcohol poisoning, a video emerged on the internet showing her getting brutally beaten up by another girl during the trip. An autopsy would later reveal that Shanquella died as a result of severe back and neck injuries. The FBI has since joined in on the investigation of her passing and the case was upgraded to a homicide. Meanwhile, Mexican authorities have also issued an arrest warrant and are awaiting the extradition of a female suspect.
Speaking with the outlet about her final moment with her sister, Long said, “She actually came here to borrow a piece of luggage of mine to take on the trip,” Long told ESSENCE. “I thought she was going with the people she always traveled with, so it wasn’t any reason for me to have any ill feelings towards her going out of town. I just tell her to be safe.” While discussing the false details her family initially received about Shanquella’s death, she said,
“I was more believing the dude that she went on the trip with because that was her best friend. So I didn’t think that he would be malicious about anything. I didn’t think that he would tell us a lie. I trusted him. So I took his word for it more than anything, and he said it was alcohol poisoning.”
Long went on to share her reaction to the video while speaking with Essence: “The two young ladies and the male told us that there wasn’t any type of fighting going on…We asked him about the fight because we were hearing from other people that they were out there fighting her; they had jumped on her out there. So they all was giving us a story, a lie, until the video surfaced. “She was naked standing there, and here she is fighting this girl… That image of her didn’t sit well with me,” said Long.
She went on to say she was “livid” and
“extremely upset” at what she saw. “When I saw the video, I automatically yelled. At that moment, I was wishing I was there. I played that video over and over again. They had to wake her up out of her sleep because she sleeps naked. And she was naked standing there, and here she is fighting this girl. And my sister’s like 5’1″, 100 pounds. That image of her didn’t sit well with me.”
Those who came across the disturbing clip online have been demanding justice for Shanquella and her family, with swift arrests for those responsible for her death.
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