YOU NEED TO KNOW
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Omar Padilla Vélez died on January 22, three weeks after he was shot during an early morning drive.
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His fiancee Kelly Crispin says the shooters at some point looked like they made a mistake
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One of the attackers then instructed them on how to get out of the neighborhood safely
A Pennsylvania couple met a horrific fate while vacationing in the Caribbean in early January, the surviving boyfriend says, according to several news outlets.
Omar Padilla Vélez and Kelly Crispin, of Philadelphia, were visiting family in San Juan, Puerto Rico when they were attacked, Crispin said, according to the The Philadelphia InquirerNBC Philadelphia and FOX 29.
Early on the morning of Jan. 3, the couple, accompanied by a friend in the back seat, were returning to the Vélez family home after dinner at a friend’s place, Crispin tells FOX 29 and the Inquiring reported.
They then turned onto a side road, initially thinking it led to the highway, Crispin told the Inquiring.
This is when about a dozen men who were carrying AR-15 style rifles surrounded their car. When Padilla Vélez tried to drive away, they started shooting. As the bullets engulfed the car, amid the chaos of exploding glass and pain in her shoulder, Crispin heard Padilla Vélez say that he had been shot.
He had been shot in the head, and would die three weeks later on January 22, NBC Philadelphia reported.
Omar Padilla/Instagram
No persons of interest have been named and no arrests have been made nearly a month after the shooting.
Crispin alleged the Inquiring that the police of San Gwann did not visit the place until five days after the crime, and did not interview her until January 21st.
San Gwann Police did not respond to several calls for comment on Friday.
Questions are still ongoing in the investigation.
Crispin says that at one point during the ordeal, she heard some of the attackers shouting at others to stop shooting because there was a woman in the car, giving her the impression that they might have made a mistake.
They searched her purse, took nothing and returned her phone, she told the Inquiring.
Perhaps most surprising of all, she says one of the attackers gave them directions to get out of the neighborhood while Crispin took care of the victim.
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Padilla Vélez was an expert scientist with publications in several prestigious science journals and platforms.
In a moving tribute on Facebook, Crispin began to mourn the future they were given.
“This was stolen from us in just a moment. Our promise of marriage, children, and growing old together,” she wrote. “But what can never be stolen from us is the beautiful life we built together, full of laughter and love”.
Read the original article on People