A woman who was shot Saturday in Spring Valley as she drove along state Route 94 has died of her injuries, the California Highway Patrol confirmed on Wednesday.
Saundralina Williams, 27, was on life support for the three days following the shooting, her aunt and uncle told NBC 7, adding that it would be disconnected Tuesday evening.
CHP spokesman Jake Sanchez confirmed to NBC 7 on Wednesday afternoon that the person who had been shot on SR-94 had died and that "the case has been updated to reflect it's a homicide."
Williams' uncle, Ruben Lopez, told NBC on Wednesday morning that it was his understanding that her father had informed the National City woman's three young daughters that their mom had died.
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"As far as I know, David told them their mother had died in an accident," Lopez said.
Lopez added that he had been asked to visit Williams in the hospital on Tuesday but had declined.
"My wife asked me to go, but I said I didn't want to do that," Lopez said, adding that he "just wanted to remember her when we took the kids and her to SeaWorld."
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Lopez said Williams was an organ donor.
"I guess she donated a lot of organs," Lopez said. "She's gonna save a lot of other lives because of what she did."
“It’s just tragic. It’s just senseless,” Katy Lopez, Williams’ aunt and Ruben's wife, told NBC on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Ruben had the same thoughts.
"Twenty-seven years old," Ruben said. "I just don't get it. It just blows me away."
Katy was in the delivery room when Williams was born and now has a connection with her three daughters who are all under the age of 10. Her voice shook Tuesday as she spoke about the three little girls never really getting to know their mom.
“It’s hard because they were just really getting to know their mom again, because she had had some pitfalls and missteps," Katy explained.
Katy and Ruben told NBC 7 Williams had just gotten her life back on track and was excited about spending more time with her girls.
Then the worst happened.
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At 5:40 a.m. Saturday, as “Lina" Williams was driving her white Ford SUV on westbound SR-94 in Spring Valley, someone fired a shot through the back windshield, hitting Williams in the back of the head. She crashed her car into the center median. Two male passengers were not hurt.
“It was pretty clear from the beginning that she probably wouldn’t pull through,” said Lopez, who said Williams' passengers didn’t see the gunman.
“We don’t know if it was road rage. We don’t know if there was an altercation. We don’t know what started it, but everyone’s adults and you need to act like adults and don’t be shooting people and taking them from their family because you’re angry over something that you probably won’t remember in a week,” Katy Lopez said.
Ruben is hoping someone will come forward with information.
“The bottom line is somebody knows something. Somebody knows who this person was who had that gun. Please do something about it," he pleaded.
The couple hopes someone either knows something about the shooting or witnessed it and will come forward to tell investigators what they saw.
"I'm just hoping whoever did this, they come forward, 'cause I don't want anybody else in their position to go through what our family's going though right now," Ruben told NBC 7 on Wednesday.
The CHP is asking anyone with any information about the shooting to call (619) 572-6962.
