Family pleads for answers after Miami grandma killed in hit-and-run outside home

CBS News

2 days ago

A 76-year-old woman was struck and killed Monday morning in a hit-and-run crash across the street from her Liberty City apartment, leaving behind a grieving family and a plea for the driver to come forward.
Koritza Ortiz was crossing Northwest 7th Avenue and 60th Street, just across from her apartment building, when a driver hit her and fled the scene, Miami police said.
She decided to go a little early
"I was supposed to go out with her," said her son, Daniel Garcia Ortiz. "I usually take her grocery shopping in the afternoons and it was supposed to be in the afternoon and I was shocked to find out that she decided to go a little early to nearby supermarket."
'She was very, very loving'
Family members described Ortiz as a generous and loving presence in their lives.
"She was always very generous, very kind, very stubborn, very very feisty, but she was very, very loving," Garcia Ortiz said. "She did a great job raising us."
Ortiz was a teacher in Honduras before moving to the United States, and she continued to share her love of learning with her family.
"So she was always teaching her granddaughters everything," said her daughter, Arliette Melara. "She taught her how to sew, and she was always, always teaching."
"Just do the right thing"
"My message to that person is to just do the right thing, turn yourself in because that was our mother, our grandmother," Garcia Ortiz said.
"I'm sure you have a mother and grandmother, and you just want the right thing to be done on your part, so just do the right to show yourself in place."
City of Miami Police said Ortiz might still be alive if the driver had waited, called 911 and rendered aid.
Investigators said they have an idea of the make and model of the vehicle involved, but have not yet released that information.
Anyone with information is urged to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
A crowdfunding page has been created to help with funeral expenses.