Margaret Rivera wants justice for her nephew, Isaia Hernandez.
Hernandez, an Ansonia resident, was shot to death at a gas station parking lot in March on Wakelee Avenue.
His killers have not been arrested.
So Rivera and a handful of other family members on Thursday plan to visit the XPress Mart parking lot where Hernandez died, to make a public plea for people with information about the shooting to talk to police.
“We’re very hopeful that the police will find something soon,” Rivera said. “Right now we just continue to pray that somebody comes forward and gives us something to go on.”
Hernandez was 25 when he was killed. He left behind a two-year-old son, a girlfriend and dozens of family members mourning his death, Rivera said.
“We cry for him everyday,” Rivera said.
“We don’t want the people of Ansonia to believe he was just a newspaper article. We want them to realize he belonged to someone,” Rivera said. “He belonged to a family that will continue to grieve for him the rest of our lives.”
Suspects
Hernandez was in a car with at least two other men on March 16.
Police believe one of those men shot Hernandez inside the car.
Based on surveillance footage from the gas station store, it appears that the three men clamored out of the car at the same time. The victim stumbled toward the gas pumps, while the suspects took off down Church Street.
Ansonia police are developing suspects and building a case, according to Lt. Andrew Cota.
Police are working to get a solid case together in order to get arrest warrants signed, Cota said.
“We don’t have any warrants yet,” Cota said. “But we’re getting close. We’re focused on some suspects, and we’re moving toward them.”
Police have also continued to investigate a second murder that happened in Ansonia the week before Hernandez was killed, Cota said. In that shooting, 25-year-old Daryl Venson was shot and killed in front of a market on Root Avenue.
Police do not believe the two shootings were related.
“Both are still moving along,” Cota said. “We’d like to get these solved very soon.”
He said he isn’t sure how long it will take to get an arrest warrant.
Any new information can help the process, Cota said.
“There may be somebody that we haven’t come across, or somebody may have information that they don’t think is pertinent,” Cota said. “But it might be helpful to us.”
A Second Plea
Rivera said Hernandez’s family is also looking for another piece of information.
They want to know who sat with Hernandez until the ambulance arrived at the scene the day he was shot.
Rivera said they read a comment on an Internet message board that indicated a passer-by stayed with Hernandez until he was taken to the hospital. They haven’t been able to find out who that person was.
“We want to find the family,” Rivera said. “We really want to thank them for not leaving him on the street like a dead animal. We really, really appreciate that. It gives me a great deal of comfort.”
