Police Search For Clues In NW Miami-Dade Drive-By Killing Of Young Mother
MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Police are investigating the drive-by shooting death of a young mother in Northwest Miami-Dade and the victim's aunt is making an emotional plea for help in this case.
It happened Monday night near NW 9th Avenue and 96th Street just before 10 p.m., police said.
CBS4 was there as Miami-Dade Police returned to the crime scene Tuesday afternoon and met with two of the aunts of the victim, 34-year-old Melita Williams, who was the mother of an 11-month-old girl.
Anita Minor told CBS4's Peter D'Oench she was seeking answers about the death of her beloved niece, who she said worked part-time and was devoted to her only daughter.
Minor said, "I am totally distraught. I mean it is horrible that my niece was shot 6 times and nobody around here knows what happened to her. It was a shootout. I don't believe that because she was an altercation with a young lady and all of a sudden Monday she is gone. Who does that? How does that happen like that?"
She said, "My problem is that I want anybody that knows anything to come forward but everybody's got conflicting stories. Nobody can tell us what happened to my niece. I don't understand that. It is terrible. This is tearing me. Because there are so many conflicting stories and there can only be one story."
"Look at all the blood on the ground and on the wall right next to this silver van," she said. "If all the blood was there, where was she running to. I definitely feel like she's an innocent victim but something more than that happened," she said.
The aunt in anguish also made an emotional appeal.
"I would like to say to anybody if you know what pain is and what it feels like, if you have any idea about pain and what it feels like when a loved one is gunned down you would come forward and say something no matter what," she said.
"My niece was as sweet as candy," she said. "She would give you anything."
She said tragedy has struck her family before.
"If you could feel what we feel," she said. "My sister, her mother, died 20 years ago. Her brother died 10 years ago and she had another brother who died 2 years ago and now that she is gone that is a whole family. That is not just one person. That s a whole family gone."
Friends also believe Williams was an innocent victim.
Miami-Dade police sealed off the area until mid-morning looking for clues.
Police were looking into a silver van riddled with bullets and shattered windows.
Williams's friends also told D'Oench that they hope witnesses will come forward.
"It's sad. This girl had a baby. There is nothing I can say. The violence. It doesn't stop," said victim's friend, Shameka Fields.
"It's very devastating to actually have a little girl growing and knowing that her mom is gone," said Williams' friend Deseree Wright.
Another friend, Esha Jackson, said "She was a good person and she was innocent and now her baby will grow up without her mother. Turn yourself in. That is all I can say."
Williams and her daughter lived with another family right next to the crime scene.
Records show she had not been in any trouble recently.
If you can help solve this case, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS.
There is a reward of up to $3,000.
