MIAMI – Fire rescue personnel pronounced a 76-year-old woman dead on Monday morning after police officers found her lying on the street in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood.
Police officers responded shortly before 8:10 a.m., at Northwest Seventh Avenue and 60th Street, and identified the woman as Koritza Ortiz.
“It appears that she had been attempting to cross the street from east to west,” Officer Kiara Delva, a spokeswoman for the Miami Police Department, said.
Homicide detectives believe Ortiz was the victim of a hit-and-run driver who struck her and asked the public for help with finding the culprit.
Her son said she was walking to the grocery store.
“She told me that she wanted to go buy some lemons today in the morning,” Daniel Garcia Ortiz said. “Then I was informed by some detectives from the city of Miami police about what happened.”
One of her grandsons said she was the center of the family, saying Ortiz “Got the family reunited.”
“She didn’t deserve to be left on the street like that,” her grandson said.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 to remain anonymous.
“If you are involved in a crash, stop, render aid, call 911,” Delva said. “The second you decide to leave the scene willfully, without contacting 911 or assisting the victim, that’s when it’s a crime.”