DOVER, Fla. (WFLA) — Every day since the murder of 22-year-old Erica Negrete Aviles, family and friends have gathered to pray and remember the young mother of two.
“My daugther cries because she wants to see her mom and its like no daughter should do that,” Erica’s husband Cornelio Negrete said.
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office detectives are actively working the case and so far they have not identified any suspects from the July 18 homicide on Al Simmons Road in Dover.
Eight days after the deadly shooting, a husband, family and community are heartbroken and they’re hoping there will be justice soon.
Around 10 p.m. the night of the shooting, Negrete said he was putting their 7-month-old son to bed when he heard gunshots outside their home.
“Super close,” he said, “I hear her scream. I run out. I see her on the ground.”
Also injured by a gunshot, Negrete said the person who shot them stole his 2007 silver Chevy pick-up truck.
“Why not just take the truck,” he said. “Take the truck. We don’t care, its materialistic, you took someone away.”
Several hours later in the hospital, Negrete said two deputies and a chaplain delivered the “worst news” that his wife didn’t make it.
Erica’s family reached out to 8 on Your Side because they’re hopeful someone knows something to help deputies find the person who pulled the trigger.
“I feel like that person don’t deserve to live,” Negrete said. “You took away a mom, you took away a wife, you took away someone who cared about people. She was a good person.”
The family is now preparing for Erica’s funeral on Thursday morning.
Anyone who may know anything is asked to call the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office homicide investigation, call 813-247-8200.
