Family pleading for help in solving murder of 22-year-old mom in South LA
LOS ANGELES - The family of Ezmeralda McGee is pleading for people to come forward with information related to her murder.
Family said McGee was shot on January 24 at a street takeover at 64th and Western. According to LAPD, McGee, 22, was with a 16-year-old girl and a 27-year-old man. All three were shot, and the 27-year-old man drove them away and flagged down an LA County Sheriff's vehicle for help at Imperial and Western. McGee was the only one who did not survive. The other two were hospitalized.
"She was en route to the hospital and she flatlined. She was trying to hang on, I know she was. She always wanted to go home to her daughter," said Jasmine Mathews who was best friends with McGee.
McGee left behind a 5-year-old daughter who family said has been asking to go to heaven to see her mother since the passing.
"Her daughter cries for her mom everyday. She wants to be with her mom," said Mathews.
Mathews said McGee came to her in a dream the same night of her passing.
She came to me in my dream that night and she was touching my hair and we were in my old apartment and she kept telling me how much she loved me. She was playing with my hair and she's like I love you so much, you're my best friend and I love you. I woke up the next morning in a panic searching for my phone and I found out on Instagram. I couldn't believe it so I started calling everybody and then I found out that she had passed," said Mathews.
Mathews said everyday has been difficult following McGee's passing.
"It's not fair they took away somebody's mom, somebody's daughter, best friend, family member and she deserves justice, and her daughter does too because it's not fair. She[McGee] was a pretty girl. She didn't bang. She wasn't in that life.She was very very respectful, and hasn't even been to jail, nothing," said Mathews.
McGee's loved ones can't help but feel like her case has not received enough attention.
"I want everybody to see my baby's face. I want everybody to know that she was a mother. She was my baby and her baby is left without her mother and I want justice for my daughter because she deserves it, and all I can do from now is just fight for her and I'm not gonna let anybody sweep this under the rug, not my baby, because she deserves as much attention as any other person and I'm not gonna stop until I find out who did it," said Sharon Ceja, McGee's mother.
Ceja said her daughter was very bright and was the oldest daughter of six.
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"She had a 4.5 to 5 point grade point average and when she was 13 years old, her teacher told me she could write novels at 13. She was very, very smart. She was actually going to be 23 on the 26th of this month and I'll be laying her to rest right around her birthday," said Ceja.
Ceja said she wants someone to come forward with information and believes someone had to see something that day.
"This pain that I feel, I don't wish upon my worst enemy, not even his [the suspect's] own mother. We don't know. This guy [suspect] can be driving next to us. This guy can be walking somewhere else and hurt somebody else. How do I know this is the first person he's done this to? Who's the next [victim]? People like this don't deserve to be on the streets. They deserve to be behind bars," said Ceja.
The family has been holding their own fundraisers, selling T-shirts and food, hoping to raise awareness about the murder, garner leads in the case, and pay for funeral expenses and a reward.
Loved ones referred to McGee as "princess" because of her love for the color pink and all things cheetah print.
"She really was a princess and I have her name tatted on me. The fact that they took my best friend away, I wake up every morning crying. I can't get her back," said Mathews.
The family is asking for donations to help them with expenses moving forward.
LAPD told FOX 11 they do not have any suspects or a description to release at this time, and are asking the public for information in the case.
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