Scores of friends and family members crowded the streets surrounding Lorena’s Grocery yesterday to remember the three workers murdered in a robbery Tuesday evening.
Porfirio Nunez, 49, his wife Juanna Nunez, 44, and his sister Lina Sanchez, 48, all died of multiple gunshot wounds. The Nunez’s two teenage daughters, who were helping close the store at the time, were uninjured.
“I was home when I heard shooting from downstairs and found all three of them on the floor,” said Javish Sanchez, 28, who lived above the store with his mother. “I was there to see my mom bleed to death. I wiped the blood from her face and that was it.”
Police released surveillance video from a nearby Chinese restaurant and are seeking two black males seen fleeing.
“They got the money, they took everything, but they still shot them,” Sanchez said, adding that his uncle carried a gun. “Maybe they knew he had a firearm and said, ‘Let’s get him first.’ They may have been familiar with the store to know that.”
“Words popping up around the neighborhood are ‘assassination,’ ‘hit,’ and ‘premeditated,’” said family friend Keith Edwards, 53, who watched the Nunezes build the business since they moved into the neighborhood 10 years ago. “But I wish I could say why for sure.”
Lt. Norman Davenport said yesterday that, moments before the robbery, the store received an anonymous phone call asking if they had surveillance cameras, but police are unsure if the call was related.
“There is no indication this is anything other than a commercial robbery,” said Davenport.
