Hialeah Restaurant Owner Gunned Down, Grieving Son Asks For Public's Help
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HIALEAH (CBSMiami) – A grieving son is asking for the public's help after his 78-year-old father was gunned down while opening up his restaurant with two other employees early Saturday morning.
"My father worked his life and wouldn't even go anywhere but he always worked so hard in his restaurant," said Isidro Lezcano, whose father Andres Lezcano was shot and killed at La Fortuna restaurant at 1925 W. 76th St.
Lezcano told CBS4's Peter D'Oench that his father had operated the restaurant since 1992.
"It was a small restaurant with three or four employees and they worked so hard every day from 5 in the morning until 9 at night," he said
He said a cook and another employee who were with him were not wounded.
Lezcano told D'Oench, "He worked his whole life at this. He was sick. He had prostate cancer yet he still went to work every day. We thought he might die peacefully after working at the restaurant but not like this with this violence. And in this area I understand there have been other incidents and I hope this will put pressure on the police to find the killers.
"He was my father, a very hard working man and an example to me."
Lezcano said he had spoken with police.
"Two or three killers came in this morning and killed him at 5:30 a.m. as he was opening up his restaurant," he said. "We are devastated with this news and hope the killers will be captured.
"They jumped through the window and he was not done opening up yet and they pointed a gun at him. They moved and he moved and they told him not to move and they shot him. He did put up some resistance and he shot back and they killed him."
Lezcano said he was speaking out because he hopes the public can help capture the killers.
"Please call Crime Stoppers and give the name of the killers to the police," he said. "It would mean closure for the family. I just can't believe this has happened to him. I can't."
He also said that police told him they believed the killers may have been captured on surveillance tape from a nearby business.
Anyone with information should call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS(8477). There's a reward of up to $3,000 in this case.
