OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — Six months after two teenage boys were shot and killed at a house party in Oakland, there have finally been arrests in the case. KRON4 spoke with the cousin of the victims about the news.

After so many months of waiting, the Garcia family thought this day may never come. They are now relieved to know two people have been arrested in connection to the teens’ deaths.

“I’m still having a lot of trouble adjusting.”

It’s been six months since Melani Garcia Macias lost her cousins: 15-year-old angel Sotelo Garcia and 17-year-old Jazy Sotelo Garcia. Back on Oct. 1, 2022, the teens were killed during an unauthorized party at an Airbnb rental near Market Street in Oakland.

Garcia Macias struggles to believe so much time has gone by without them.

“It feels surreal because it’s been half a year, which it feels like it was just yesterday,” she said. “So things have not been the same, but to be honest I don’t think it will ever actually be the same.”

She says she started to worry an arrest would never happen.

“I felt really hopeless because there was already such a backlog of homicides in the area.”

But last week, nearly six months to the day, she found out the Oakland Police Department had arrested two people in connection to her cousins’ homicides.

“I have a picture of the boys and I have it hung up over my dining table. When I found out I read the news article out loud to them and I had a whole conversation and I remember saying ‘you’re finally going to get your justice,'” Garcia Macias said.

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Although she knows it will be hard, Garcia Macias says she wants to attend whatever legal proceedings happen next.

“I would like to be present in the trial to show solidarity and uniformity within our family. If I wasn’t present I would feel like I wasn’t doing my part,” Garcia Macias said.

The Oakland Police Department does expect to have another update on the case early this week.