Preschool teacher dies after I-95 shooting in Broward while on way home from vacation
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Interstate 95 shootings in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area
The car-to-car shootings have become a not uncommon occurrence November 2022.
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A 23-year-old preschool teacher has died in the hospital just days after she was wounded in a shooting on Interstate 95 in Broward County while on her way home from vacation.
Ana Estevez was the “happiest person on Earth” to many of her friends, family and students. One word always came to mind when her loved ones would remember her memory: “sweet,” her cousin Paula Ulerio said.
“It’s just so devastating, especially knowing who she was as a person,” Ulerio said. “It’s just insane that this would happen to anybody, but especially her.”
Ulerio said that as a preschool teacher at Nurtury Montessori School she was always so caring and giving to the children. Even out of the workplace her students were like her kids.
A GoFundMe page was created Wednesday by Ulerio to help the family with medical and funeral costs. It has raised more than $48,000 and Ulerio has had dozens of messages pour in.
Loved ones, including families of former students, have left messages on the GoFundMe page, as well as on Facebook, describing Estevez as “an angel” and a “bright soul” who loved her students. They are also asking people to help detectives find the gunman who killed her.
The memories Ulerio heard had many equating her presence to the feeling Disney gives to most, a beautiful irony as Estevez loved the parks and the magic behind its stories, she said.
“You know how they say that Disney is the happiest place on Earth?” she said. “That’s how most people who were close to her saw her as. She was so happy and bright, and you knew if you were with her it would be amazing.”
The shooting happened around 8:30 p.m. Sunday in the southbound lanes of I-95 between Sunrise and Broward boulevards, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies say two people — who loved ones have identified as Estevez and her boyfriend — in a Nissan Sentra were sideswiped by a man in a newer model white BMW i8. There was an argument and then he shot them, deputies said.
The couple were on their way home after spending Thanksgiving in North Carolina, according to the GoFundMe page.
Investigators later learned that a girl in a separate vehicle was also wounded in a shooting that occurred on I-95 between Atlantic Boulevard and Sample Road. All three were taken to the hospital. Estevez’s wounds were fatal. She died at the hospital Thursday morning, according to the sheriff’s office. Deputies said the other two victims had non-life-threatening injuries.
“This man is still out there,” Ulerio said. “We all want justice. We all want him to be found.”
Estevez’s sister Mary told WTVJ-NBC 6, “I just hope they catch the guy so he doesn’t do this to anyone else’s family. I’m just speechless. It’s like we’re in a nightmare and we just can’t wake up from it.”
Detectives have released a sketch of the man they believe is responsible for the shootings and said his car may have damage to the side-view mirror on the passenger side. They hope someone will recognize him.
Anyone with information that can help with the investigation is asked to call Violent Crimes Detective Kristina Luna at 954-321-4356. You can also call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS (8477), online at browardcrimestoppers.org, or dial **TIPS (8477) from any cellphone in the United States. You can stay anonymous.
This story was originally published December 1, 2022 at 1:02 PM.
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