A man and woman have been arrested in connection with a shooting at a Pompano Beach hotel that left a 17-year-old girl dead.
The shooting happened just before 2 a.m. Wednesday at the Travelodge Hotel at 1201 Northwest 31st Avenue, Broward Sheriff's office officials said.
Officials said the incident began with a verbal altercation between 23-year-old Jayla Leondrea Patton and a relative of the teen victim.
The family member pushed Patton in order to close the door and that's when shots were fired from outside through the hotel room window, striking the 17-year-old, officials said.
Deputies and Pompano Beach Fire Rescue responded to the hotel and found the teen unresponsive and suffering from a gunshot wound. She was taken to Broward Health North where she later died from her injuries.
Family members later identified her as Alisa Espaillat.
Authorities said Patton and a second suspect, 19-year-old D'Angelo Cincord, fled after the shooting but were found by deputies.
Espaillat's stepfather, Armando Gonzales, says the family was staying at the Travelodge Hotel when a woman came to their room looking for someone they didn’t know.
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“So I’m telling the girl, ‘Whoever you’re looking for is not here,’” he said.
Gonzales says the woman reached inside the room, and he pushed her out. That’s when a man she was with started shooting through the window. The bullets hit and killed the teen.
“They didn’t kill her,” Gabriel Casanova said. “They killed the whole family.”
Patton and Cincord were arrested on murder charges and booked into jail, where they remained without bond Thursday, records showed. Attorney information wasn't available.
“These two heartless persons, don’t care for life, don’t care for nothing,” Casanova said. “They took her life.”
Elizabeth Cabrera said they just celebrated Alisa’s 17th birthday on Friday.
“I miss my daughter,” said the mother. “I can’t get her back.”
