DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — Police in North Carolina say they are looking for an “armed and dangerous” suspect after a weekend shooting left a mother of four dead.
Police say they received an assault call at 2:15 a.m. Saturday in Durham and found a woman dead inside a home.
According to the family, the woman who died is 27-year-old Jessica Cortez Luna. She and her four children were in town visiting other family members for Christmas.
The family was planning to return to Tampa sometime later Saturday.
Durham police announced Saturday evening that Jorge Maya Gomez, 28, of Tampa, Florida, is wanted in Luna’s death. Police say Gomez was Luna’s boyfriend of five years.
The sister of the victim said Luna was a victim of domestic abuse in the past.
“My heart is really broken. We kind of thought that this was going to happen one day, but she kept going back to him all the time and we couldn’t do anything. I wish we could’ve done more,” said Maria Cortez Luna, the victim’s sister.
The family hopes to help prevent this from happening to anyone else.
“I want to let all the women know if they’re going through domestic violence to say something before this happens. No one wanted this to happen,” said Maria Cortez Luna.
Gomez “is considered to be armed and dangerous,” Durham police said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family. Luna’s children are ages 12, 7, 3 and 7 months, family members said.
Gomez was last seen fleeing the scene in a black 2016 Chevrolet 1500 Silverado truck with NC license plate HEW-3881.
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