Vigil Held For Victim Of Santa Monica Bus Shooting

SANTA MONICA, CA – Friends and family gathered to celebrate and honor the life of De'Ommie De La Cruz, a 28-year-old mother who lost her life in a Santa Monica shooting involving two party buses. Those close to De La Cruz said her positive energy was infectious, according to CBS reporting. She took pride in raising her young daughter, who was born premature – weighing just over a pound at birth.

"You think about her bright smile, her wittiness, her quick comebacks," Tomieka De La Cruz, the victim's mother told CBS.

A GoFundMe fundraiser has been set up by the victim's family. They're hoping to raise $15,000 to pay for funeral costs as well as taking care of De La Cruz's 2-year-old daughter, who is now in their care. Senseless gun violence robbed the life of a daughter, granddaughter, and mother, Tomiekia Falconer-De La Cruz wrote on the fundraiser page.

"My family is devastated as we attempt to cope with our new reality. A life without my baby girl," she wrote.

Police asked for public help Sunday to find the two or three people who shot and killed one woman, and wounded two others, aboard a bus parked near the Santa Monica Pier.

Shots started firing just before 1 a.m. Saturday at Ocean Avenue and Colorado Boulevard, the Santa Monica Police Department reported. A bus containing a large group of people was parked along Ocean Avenue, when several people exited and got into an altercation with people who had been in another bus, also parked on Ocean Avenue.

Several suspects fired into the first bus, striking three victims and a fourth person on the street. The suspects jumped over a railing toward the cliff above Pacific Coast Highway, police said.

The bus driver pulled out and drove several blocks to the Santa Monica police headquarters, with three gunshot victims onboard.

The three victims were transported to an area hospital, where De La Cruz died from a gunshot wound. Two were listed with stable life signs at an area hospital.

A fourth victim suffered minor injuries and was not hospitalized.

The tunnel linking the westbound Santa Monica (10) Freeway to Pacific Coast Highway was closed by the California Highway Patrol during the initial search for the suspects. It was reopened at 3:45 a.m. Saturday.
The two groups were not traveling together but some passengers may have known each other, Santa Monica police Lt. Saul Rodriguez told the Los Angeles Times.

"I did hear that maybe one of the parties may have have recognized them from a previous encounter," Rodriguez told the newspaper. "Like they've known each other from some prior run-in possibly."

Santa Monica police asked anyone with any information regarding the shooting to call them at (310) 458-8495.

City News Service and Patch staffer Emily Holland contributed to this post; Image via GoFundMe