A trip to her grandmother's house in Oakland ended in tragedy for a mother of eight, who was shot to death after taking a stand against drug dealers.

“Her children were her world to her.”

(Video credit: KTVU)

Footage obtained by KTVU captured the dramatic scene as 33-year-old Maria Ramos' effort to confront a trio alleged to have sold two of her children marijuana pens ended in a fatal shooting on the streets of 'Oakland, California.

“Our plan was to tell them to stop coming to our house,” the victim's mother, Blanca Velasco, told KTVU after it was reported that she led her daughter in pursuit of the suspects during the 2 p.m. August 7

When they arrived at the car, allegedly driven by 19-year-old Isaiah Gomez, Ramos was seen approaching, at which point he is said to have used pepper spray on the occupants before one, according to reports, a 16-year-old got out of the car and allegedly shot him.

Velasco, who left when a gun was pointed at him, returned to find his daughter motionless and explained: “I started rubbing her chest and telling her: 'Lupita, breathe! You know, we still need you. You have eight children. And he tried.”

“It happened so fast. I saw her run. I heard a thump. And then I saw her go down,” she he said the Chronicle of San Francisco.

After the tragedy, Oakland Police Department Deputy Chief of Police Frederick Shavies told the press: “Within minutes, our patrol team and our special resources team went into action, they identified the vehicle, located it and then quickly arrested three suspects within the next 12 hours.”

UPDATE: Surveillance video obtained by @KTVU shows a teenage girl fatally shooting Maria Ramos, 33, a mother of 8, after she pepper-sprayed a car of teenagers who she believed were selling marijuana pens to some of her children. A suspected shooter, a prop busted by @oaklandpoliceca 5.6 in the afternoon @KTVU pic.twitter.com/tDtS2V9Zkf

— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) August 15, 2024

In addition to Gomez who was charged as an accomplice by Alameda County prosecutors and released on an ankle monitor, the alleged shooter and another juvenile were taken into custody. The 16-year-old believed to have shot Ramos had been charged with murder and was being held at the Alameda County Juvenile Hall.

“They should change the way we live here. We shouldn't be killing people for no reason, you know,” the victim's aunt, Carmen Beltran, told KTVU. “She left her eight children, and that's very difficult”.

“There is another way to solve the problem. You have a problem with somebody, you don't have to shoot anybody,” he continued.

The tragedy that left Ramos' seven daughters, ages 1 to 15, and her seven-year-old son without their mother happened the day after the Oakland Police Officers Association called on Mayor Sheng Thao (D) to resign amid the ongoing crime crisis.

Thao defended his record in a public statement where he argued, “It's unfortunate that the POA is obviously playing politics. Right now, at this delicate moment, we have to come together. We see that what we're working for the comprehensive approach to public safety is working”.

As even California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) had acknowledged the problem in Oakland, where the police force had been thinned out and hampered, Thao continued to argue that violent crime was on the decline as it also was facing a withdrawal effort.

Violent crime in Oakland is decreasing thanks to the hard work of our police officers, the Department of Violence Prevention, the Fire Department, CHP and the community. When we focus on collaborative, data-driven policies like Operation Ceasefire, we can and will have a positive impact on the… pic.twitter.com/96MhX3VJx7

— Mayor Sheng Thao Sheng Tao (@MayorShengThao) August 13, 2024

Remembering her daughter, Velasco told KTVU, “She was a happy person, a very loving person to her and her children. You know she was very kind. She liked to take her children out all the time. Her children were the his world to her.”

She also told the Chronicle how the family had planned to move to Merced the following year and her daughter had routinely advised her about saving on groceries and back-to-school shopping: “I feel like I was preparing for this . He was teaching me how to take care of so many children, (because) I knew he would stay.”

Staff writer

A native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College, where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and seeker of truth, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and dog, and when he's not researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel the

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