One killed, another hurt in Palmdale shooting, victim's family says
PALMDALE, Calif. - On a cell phone, Qiana Ross tells her daughter Cassie, "I love you so much!"
Cassie replies, "I love you too mommy."
Cassie is 18 years old and as traumatized as her mom. Shot were Qiana’s 16-year-old son Joseph and a family friend she calls a "son" JoNathan Jackson.
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Not long after talking with mom and Cassie, we learned one of them had died. Prior to that, Cassie tells her mom, "All I know is I was upstairs in my room. I heard a popping sound downstairs in the garage and my brother was bleeding from his chest."
Lt. Hugo Reynaga from The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Homicide Bureau says it was a walkup shooting in Palmdale. A man, Reynaga identifies as Hispanic or Black and wearing a COVID-19 mask, walked up to where three people were, opened fire and ran off.
Ross’s 16-year-old son Joseph, says Qiana, was wounded in the hand. She identifies the older man as JoNathan Jackson.
He died from his injuries at a local hospital.
Qiana says, "I’m very saddened by the fact that this situation occurred. I am concerned, worried and frightened at the same time."
And, to the suspect, she says, "I hope they get caught. I hope they catch the shooter and I hope nothing like this ever occurs again. I’ve never experience anything like this before in my life."