Apr 23, 2008 11:36 pm US/Eastern
North Miami Mother Nearly Loses It All
Police Are Looking For A White Vehicle - Possibly A Toyota.
Reward Money For Assassin's Capture Is Up To $10,000
NORTH MIAMI (CBS4) ―
On Wednesday, the mother of a two-year-old boy shot in his father's arms while the father himself was shot dead on a North Miami Street made an impassioned plea with the public to help in the capture of her husband's assassin.
Orlando Mesa's widow Janepsy sat with family members and her 2-year-old son Noah, who recovered from the shooting, during a press conference held Wednesday afternoon.
"No one, no matter what, deserves to die this way," said Janepsy Mesa, as she sobbed uncontrollably.
Noah, who is nearly 2-years-old, recovered from a gunshot wound after he and his father were shot while playing near North Miami's Claude Pepper Park over the weekend.
Witnesses told North Miami police that Noah and his father Orlando Mesa were walking in the 1100 block of Northwest 134th Street around 8 p.m. Sunday when a white Toyota or Nissan drove up to the pair and someone inside the car jumped out and opened fire on them.
"They had no mercy," said Janepsy Mesa.
Witnesses say the shooter jumped back into the car which sped off, but returned moments later and fired several more shots at them. Orlando died before help could arrive.
"The first thing I heard was pop, pop, pop," said Emmenuel Vassor, "after 3 or 4 minutes again I heard the sound go pop, pop, pop. That was very scary for me."
Now the reward money offered for information leading to the capture of the murderer is up to $10,000.
"Please if you know something come forward," said the widow. "Anything that you might know, even if you think it might not help, just come forward and let us know."
"And as usual these knuckle-heads really don't care much about many people let alone infants as well as you can see," North Miami Police Lt. Neil Cuevas told
CBS4 News.Noah--though calm at the press conference--is also traumatized.
"He [Orlando] used to drive a Ford truck, and every time we were on our way here, and he saw a truck he started screaming 'dada, dada'," said Mesa.
Jesse Jackson addressed the escalating violence in our area during his visit this Monday.
"We cannot stop the drug flow and the gun flow in Miami," said Jackson. We can't stop it in Iraq or Afghanistan. Our own borders is a test of our capacity to defend the American people from terror; this is terror.
People in the neighborhood said they are concerned.
"It makes you fear to be in the neighborhood, I mean it doesn't happen much, we've been here for almost 3 and ½ years and nothing like that has ever happened," said neighborhood resident Margarita Lalane.
On Monday police released surveillance video of a white car leaving the scene of the crime. They believe that car was used in the crime.
If you have any information please call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
