FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A South Florida mother is living a nightmare after her daughter was one of two people murdered on Tuesday morning.
Authorities said 21-year-old Terri McKenzie and her boyfriend 23-year-old Vernaldo Donner were found shot to death inside a white 2017 Mercedes Benz GLC 300 riddled with bullets.
According to Fort Lauderdale police, a gunman opened fire on the vehicle just as it was turning off Sunrise Boulevard onto the Interstate 95 northbound ramp around 2:30 a.m.
Detective Ali Adamson, a spokeswoman for FLPD, said both victims were transported to Broward Health Medical Center, where they both died from their injuries.
Local 10 News spoke with Barbara McKenzie, the mother of Terri McKenzie, who said that she is trying to figure out why her daughter was killed.
“It was like somebody kicked me in the stomach when I heard,” she said. “It’s like a nightmare”
Barbara McKenzie described Terri McKenzie as a young woman trying to better her life.
She told Local 10 News that her daughter was a high school graduate who had dreams of becoming a registered nurse and had just accepted a job as a certified nursing assistant.
Barbara McKenzie had a message for the killer who took the life of two young people with the rest of their lives ahead of them.
“Give yourself up because when you kill someone it’s not the person that you killed alone that is affected. The whole family is affected,” she said.
McKenzie’s loved ones created a GoFundMe page where donations will go towards her funeral expenses. To view the page, click here.
Detectives encourage anyone who may have witnessed this incident or anyone who may have information to contact Detective Thomas Taylor at 954-828-6673 or Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-471-8477.