A tragic incident has left a Philadelphia woman seeking justice after her fiancé was brutally shot in what she describes as an unprovoked attack during their trip to Puerto Rico. The woman, Kelly Crispin, recounts the harrowing night when their joy-filled vacation turned into a nightmare.
While returning to Omar Padilla Vélez’s family home around 1:45 a.m. on January 3, after an evening of dancing in San Juan, the couple mistakenly took a wrong turn off the bustling Calle Cerra nightlife area. What followed was a terrifying encounter, as Crispin shared with FOX 29 and The Philadelphia Inquirer.
In an instant, their car was surrounded by over a dozen masked assailants wielding rifles resembling military-style weapons. These men boxed in the vehicle at the intersection of Calle Blanca and Calle La Nueva Palma. In an effort to evade the danger, Padilla Vélez tried to maneuver the car around them, but to no avail.
The gunmen unleashed a hail of bullets, fatally striking Padilla Vélez, a dedicated chemist with DuPont, in the head. Crispin herself suffered wounds to her hand and shoulder, alongside a graze to the back of her head. Thankfully, another friend in the car remained unharmed, according to reports from FOX 29 and The Philadelphia Inquirer.
This senseless act has left Crispin devastated and searching for explanations, as she grapples with the loss of her beloved fiancé amid the chaos of an inexplicable attack.
Padilla Vélez, a DuPont chemist, was shot in the head. Crispin was hit in the hand and shoulder and grazed in the back of her head. A friend riding in the car was not injured, FOX 29 and The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
After the gunfire stopped, Crispin said, one of the attackers approached the vehicle and took her phone as she was calling police. She said the men appeared startled when they realized a woman was inside the car. They searched her purse, returned her phone and took nothing, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Crispin and her friend brought Padilla Vélez into the back seat, and she tried to stop the bleeding. The friend drove as the gunmen directed them out of the neighborhood, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Padilla Vélez suffered a catastrophic stroke caused by a bullet fragment and died. (Kelly Crispin via Instagram)
They met an ambulance at a nearby gas station and rushed to Centro Médico de Puerto Rico. Days later, Padilla Vélez suffered a catastrophic stroke caused by a bullet fragment and died, according to the outlets.
Now, Crispin is calling for justice.
“There’s no media coverage, there’s no pressure on the police to solve this case,” Crispin told FOX 29. “No one knows that this very smart, young Puerto Rican man was murdered. No one knows that a tourist down there was shot multiple times.”
Crispin told Fox News Digital her fiancé grew up in Puerto Rico, knew the streets well and that the area where the shooting happened is not considered dangerous. (Kelly Crispin via Instagram)
Crispin told Fox News Digital her fiancé grew up in Puerto Rico, knew the streets well and that the area where the shooting happened is not considered dangerous.
No arrests have been made. Police say the investigation remains ongoing, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer and FOX 29.
“We had just made this decision to spend the rest of our lives together, forever,” she told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “It just feels so cruel that this was taken away.”
San Juan police did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
