Clearwater drive-by shooting victim was pregnant
CLEARWATER (FOX 13) - In one senseless, heinous act, Javier Rosado lost his wife and he knew it right away.
"My wife is very skittish and she would scream a lot in those situations and she wasn't screaming," Javier said, "and that's what I saw what happened."
His wife, Elizabeth Rosado, was killed in a drive-by shooting.
It happened late Sunday evening. Clearwater investigators say Javier was driving on Scranton Road, with Elizabeth sitting in the front passenger seat and his 10-year-old daughter was in the back seat.
Javier says he was driving behind a white car when suddenly it stopped.
"They stopped at a speed bump. I wasn't sure what they were stopping for. I went around them and that's when it happened," he recalled. "I thought someone threw a firecracker at the car and then my daughter was screaming that her ears were ringing. So, I tried to get out of there as soon as possible."
Javier pulled over and called 911. First responders were on scene within minutes but there was nothing they could do.
Police say the shooting appears to be random and are searching for the shooter.
Adding to the heartbreak, Elizabeth was 14 weeks pregnant. Javier says the two had just celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary.
Now, he's left raising his young daughter alone and picking up the pieces of their lives.
"She's being tough, too," Javier said. "I told her I was proud of how she reacted -- she panicked but she listened to what I told her to do -- (to) get down and all that -- but she's working through it also."