Police Searching For Hit-And-Run Driver Who Killed Grandmother In Long Beach
LONG BEACH (CBSLA.com) — A hit-and-run driver struck and killed a grandmother outside her senior apartment building in Long Beach Tuesday morning.
Jackie Morris, 77, was pushing a shopping cart onto Redondo Avenue outside the crosswalk around 6 a.m. when a driver hit her and sped off.
"How could you just hit somebody and just leave them lying in the street like an animal? That could be your mom. That could be your grandmother. My mother is the only family I have besides my children," the victim's daughter Shayla Williams said.
She said a witness rushed to her mother's aid after she was hit.
"He said he took his truck and blocked her because there was so much cars. He wanted to shield her body from getting hit again," Williams said.
The only identification Morris had on her was a Smart-and-Final gift card with her name on it.
"That's how they knew her name. So he confirmed that was her name," Williams whimpered.
Morris' family and friends are devastated. They said she was planning to move to another senior living apartment on a quieter street. They said they begged her not to cross the street unless she used the crosswalk.
"Just a few days ago, she was telling me. She said: 'Sandra, I am so afraid to go across the street now because people are running over people. They're killing them,'" said the victim's friend, Sandra Dozier.
Police said the driver was driving a light-colored sedan, and the victim's family is pleading for him or her to come forward.
"If anybody knows anything. You took my mother from me. You took her from me," Williams said.
Anyone with information about this incident, Long Beach police would like to hear from you.
