Family Of Slain FIU Grad Pleads For Public's Help

DORAL, FL — The family of 22-year-old Melissa Gonzalez broke down in tears Friday as they pleaded for the public's help in finding the person who killed the FIU graduate as she was driving to visit her sick grandfather along one of the busiest highways in the Miami area.

"We’re talking about a young girl whose done everything right in her life and she’s driving to see her grandfather who's ill, and ends up getting shot," explained Detective Juan Segovia of the Miami-Dade Police Department.

"If that doesn’t disgust everybody out there; If that doesn’t outrage everybody in this community, I don’t know what else will," Segovia added.

Detective Chris Thomas of the agency told Patch Gonzalez did not appear to be the intended target of the bullet that pierced the passenger side window as the couple drove south along I-95 near NW 79 Street around 8:30 p.m. Jan. 3.

"She was shot and killed, apparently by a stray bullet," Thomas said. "We don't have any other leads apart from the fact that there was an incident in the area where there were gunshots, and it's possible that a round from that incident hit this young lady."

Police said Gonzalez' boyfriend took the wheel when he realized she had been shot. She was pronounced dead at the scene by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel.

The woman's boyfriend was not injured during the shooting. Investigators quickly ruled out road rage as a possible motive for the shooting.

"She graduated from Florida International University last year," Thomas said. "She aspired to be a lawyer so she was going to take her LSATs in the next couple of weeks ... Unfortunately, her life was taken."