A member of the Cerritos College track and field team was stabbed at a birthday party and pronounced dead at a nearby hospital early Sunday morning.

Eighteen-year-old Jose Ramos took part in a fight between 10 to 15 gang members and party goers, who denied the gang entry, which resulted in his death and shots being fired.

“We lost our brother, it’s hard. Our family is still waiting for him to come home,” Silvia Ramos, the victim’s sister, said.

Sources say the party was thrown for his girlfriend’s birthday.

Ramos’ older sister, Silvia Ramos, said, “words were exchanged when they arrived and that’s when my brother came out and told them that they weren’t invited.”

She said the events that took place after happened so fast, “next thing you know, the guys jumped out of the car and pushed their way inside, and started fighting with the guys and the girls.

“And when they swung at my brother, as he leaned back, another guy stabbed right in the heart.”

Ramos was taken to Los Angeles County University of Southern California Medical Center, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office.

He is the only reported casualty in the first homicide of 2011 for the 8-mile town of Pico Rivera, according to the Los Angeles Times Homicide Report.

“Gangsters try to have their way,” a friend of the college student who was at the party said.  The individual wishes to be unidentified.

According to the coroner’s office, it will take three to four days for an autopsy to be conducted.

“His heart, from what the doctor said when they opened him, was destroyed. There was no way, there was nothing he could do,” his sister said.

Ramos was the only son and the youngest sibling of four sisters.

He lived in Pico Rivera and attended El Rancho High School where he played football and was a member of the track team.

“He was funny and warm- hearted. He was a big guy, but he was actually really nice if you actually got to know him and always had a big smile that was really contagious,” former high school track and football teammate, Jefferson Colindres, said.

After graduating from El Rancho, he enrolled into Cerritos College in the fall and began to work out for track.

“He was trying to do what he thought was right, and he paid for it. He didn’t deserve it,” Vincenzo Iaia, a Cerritos teammate, said.

Many of Jose’s peers are saddened by the news and have nothing but kind words toward him.

Angel O. Reulas, Cerritos student, organized a peace march.

He did not know Jose, but seeing the reaction his friends had, he felt the need to “wake people up.”

The march will be Jan. 30 at Rivera Park at 3 p.m. Supporters will carry signs from Rivera Park to Washington Boulevard and finally to Rosemead Boulevard.

Ramos recalled a conversation she had with her brother a month earlier while they were at their brother-in-law’s funeral about how he wondered how many people would show up to his funeral if he died.

“I told him, ‘don’t say that,’ and a month later this happens!” she said as she sobbed, replaying the conversation.

Anyone who knows about the whereabouts of the suspect or knows any information about the incident can contact LASD Homicide at (323) 890-5500.

An open service will be held at Guerra Gutierrez Mortuary at 5800 E. Beverly Blvd. from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Friday.