FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A memorial service was held Sunday for a beloved preschool teacher who was fatally shot two weeks ago on Interstate 95 in Broward County.
Ana Estevez, 23, who taught at the Nurtury Montessori School in Fort Lauderdale, was taken to Broward Health Medical Center after the shooting, but she ultimately succumbed to her injuries.
Her cousin, Jovani Rodriguez, told Local 10 News Sunday that Estevez was a loving, caring person who didn’t deserve this.
“Ana was the sweetest person -- sweetest person that ever existed,” he said. “She was so loving, she was so caring, she was always willing to help, always willing to serve. She was a teacher and all the kids loved her, all the parents that she babysat (for) loved her, everybody in her family loves her. She did not deserve this -- literally, she would not hurt a fly.”
According to a GoFundMe page created to assist with her funeral costs, Estevez and her boyfriend were heading home from North Carolina Nov. 27 when their car was sideswiped by a white BMW.
Loved ones say the driver inside that car then fired at the couple.
Estevez, who was also a student at Florida Atlantic University and cared for both her mother and grandmother, was driving a Nissan Sentra southbound near Broward Boulevard.
Detectives released the sketch of a suspect who was in a white BMW i8. They believe he was also involved in a shooting on I-95, between Atlantic Boulevard and Sample Road.
Detectives are asking anyone with information about the case to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.