Mother Shot To Death While Trying To Break Up Fight At Family Baby Shower

According to ABC 13, a shooting at a baby shower in Riverside Saturday left one woman dead and another victim wounded.

Beatrice Romo, the wife of rapper Ronnie Romo, was at her niece’s baby shower Saturday when two men started fighting. One of the men, Beatrice’s nephew Abraham Bonilla, had a gun and shot her in the stomach when she tried to intervene in the altercation. She was taken to the hospital but died later that day. A second victim was also shot, but authorities say he will recover, according to ABC 8.

Bonilla, who is a convicted felon, fled the scene but was arrested after a hit and run.

Ronnie Romo had just left the Elks Lodge to perform at an event when the shooting occurred. He and Beatrice had been together for 25 years, married for 20.

He says his wife’s family made Bonilla the way he was, commenting, “Her family, I’m sorry, they enabled him to be that way.”

Romo now faces life without his wife and mother of their five children.

“I thought I was going to grow old with my wife. That was my goal. She was so loving and beautiful, I mean, she lit up the room, bro.”

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Beatrice’s son, Joshua, said he held his mother in his arms while waiting for the ambulance.

“I just heard a shot and see my mom fall to the floor,” he said. “I was just telling her I love her… she was getting so pale… I felt like she was in so much pain.”

Beatrice’s daughter recounted the seconds after the shooting.

“After the gunshots, everyone was like, ‘It’s Bea! It’s Bea! Bea got hurt!'” she said, adding of Bonilla, “I’m never going to forgive him for taking my mom away.”

WDBO reports that Tere Leyva, a longtime friend of Beatrice Romo, told the Riverside-based Press-Enterprise that the shooting was indicative of her friend’s caring nature, as she got between the people arguing and attempted to use her body as a shield.

According to WHIO7, Bonilla is charged with murder, attempted murder and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He is being held in the Southwest Detention Center in Riverside County in lieu of a $1 million bond on each charge. Bonilla reportedly spent about five years in an Arizona state prison on aggravated assault charges prior to this shooting.

The name of the second victim shot during the fight has not been released.