California mom of 8 fatally shot while protecting kids from drug dealers in harrowing footage
A California mother of eight was fatally shot, reportedly while confronting a group of people she believed sold marijuana vape pens to her child, according to local news.
Maria Guadalupe Ramos Velasco, 33, of Los Angeles, was shot earlier this month near the intersection of Hilton Street and Bancroft Avenue in Oakland around 2:20 p.m. on Aug. 7, according to FOX 2 Oakland.
Earlier that day, Ramos and her mother, Blanca Velasco, apparently saw a Toyota parked near Velasco's house and believed the occupants were selling marijuana vape pens to one of Ramos' children. The pair planned to approach the vehicle and tell them to "stop coming" to the house, Velasco told KTVU.
Ramos and Velasco were in Velasco's Toyota RAV4 at the time, and Ramos reportedly got out to confront the suspects in their vehicle. Then, she allegedly diffused pepper spray into the back of the suspect vehicle, KTVU reported, citing recently obtained video footage of the incident, a witness and a source close to the investigation.
At that point, a 16-year-old suspect, who has not been named due to his age, allegedly shot Ramos, killing her. When the teen suspect pointed the firearm at Velasco she drove off but circled back to find her daughter lying on the ground, according to KTVU.
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Prosecutors charged alleged driver Isaiah Gomez, 19, with being an accessory to a crime.
"I started rubbing her chest and telling her, ‘Breathe, Lupita, breathe! Like, we still need you. You have 8 kids.’ And she tried," Velasco told the outlet.
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Ramos had previously grappled with her own drug habit, according to her mother. She leaves behind seven daughters between 1 and 16 years old, as well as a 7-year-old son.
"We have to change the way we live over here," Ramos' aunt, Maria Del Carmen Beltran, told KTVU. "We don't have to be killer people, you know?"
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"She brought immense joy, love, and kindness into the lives of everyone who knew her," Beltran wrote in the description of a GoFundMe page for Ramos. "As we navigate this profound loss, we are coming together to honor Guadalupe’s memory and provide her with the farewell she truly deserve."
The GoFundMe titled "María Guadalupe Ramos Velasco family" says donations "will go directly towards help [for] her kids, and to help ease the financial burden on the Ramos family."