Family Remembers Pregnant Shooting Victim
MIAMI GARDENS (CBSMiami) – About 500 people attended the Saturday morning funeral for a pregnant woman and her unborn baby.
29-year-old Angelese Ladson was killed and her friend Krystal Tillman was injured in a drive-by shooting in Miami Gardens on June 26th.
"We tease about our daughter being a social butterfly. She had a tremendous amount of friends. They loved her," said Sharron Ladson, Angelese's mother, adding, "When you meet her, you love her, you just love her. We love her. We're going to miss her so much."
Miami Gardens mayor, Shirley Gibson joined the hundreds of mourners. She told the grieving family she wants answers.
"People need to get engaged and help us to solve these kinds of cases, because people know, someone knows," said Mayor Gibson. "Someone knows something. If they come forward and do what they need to do, then every time, people would know you can't do those things."
The shooting happened just after 12:30 a.m. on June 26th. A silver Toyota Camry pulled up in front of Davon Scott's home, the mother's-to-be boyfriend, at 18048 NW 40th Place when gunfire erupted from inside the vehicle.
Her boyfriend was inside the home as the shots were fired.
"It happened so quick," Scott said.
"Apparently the females were outside talking in the street when the vehicle came by and shot at them," said Miami Gardens police spokesman Captain Ralph Suarez.
The two women were hit.
"She was standing there talking to another young lady and two young men got out of the car and opened fire on both of them," said Sharron Ladson. "I am shocked because I know they could see that my daughter was heavily, heavily pregnant. And why would you shoot two beautiful young women is beyond me."
"We would like it if anyone who saw anything would turn themselves in, please," said Ladson. "If this was your sister, your mother, how would you feel, you know. If this was your family member, how would you feel."
Miami Gardens Police Sgt. Bill Bamford said Ladson, who was eight months pregnant, was shot in the neck and rushed to the Ryder Trauma Center where both she and her unborn child died.
Angela Scott Ragin, who would have become the great grandmother of the child, told D'Oench, "This was so unnecessary. I don't like guns period. There is just too much violence with too many guns. I wonder if this was gang related, if this was some type of initiation. I just don't know."
Tillman was taken to Jackson Hospital North where she was treated for a gunshot wound to her leg.
Ladson's father, Gerard said that a baby shower was planned for his first grandchild in about a week and she was really excited about that.
A friend of Ladson's, who told CBS4 she wanted to be identified only as Takelia, watched the horrible crime unfold.
"I saw two boys get out on the passenger side from the driver seat and the back seat. The one boy started shooting...he got in the car and he left," said Takelia.
Police have not given a description of the shooters or said what may have led to it.
"We do believe at this point that there were two gunmen as we found two different types of shell casings at the scene," Sgt. Bamford told CBS4's Peter D'Oench.
Bamford said Police are looking for three men who are between the ages of 18 and 25 who fled in the Toyota Camry. It's believed that of them was the driver and two of the men were the shooters.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477).
