HOMESTEAD, Fla. – The mother of a 13-year-old girl who was shot and killed while riding onboard a school bus in Homestead Tuesday morning spoke with the media.
"Lourdes was the most wonderful thing God gave me," said Ady DeJesus, Lourdes Guzman's mother, through tears. "She was very gullible, smart, naive, such a happy girl."
"I forgive him," said DeJesus. "I forgive him, but he has to pay for what he did,"
Police said Guzman's 7-year-old sister was also on the bus. DeJesus said her other daughter didn't see the shooting but heard it.
"She's being a 7 year old but she's not right. She keeps remembering things about her sister, what happened that morning," said DeJesus.
DeJesus said her 7-year-old daughter called her after the shooting.
"She just started screaming. And, then the bus driver started talking to me," said DeJesus. "She was just scared. She was just screaming."
Guzman's family spoke outside their home in Homestead on Wednesday.
"I don't know anything. I just want answers myself," said DeJesus. "How did it happen? How did he have that on him? How did nobody notice?"
DeJesus said she wanted her daughter to be remembered "as the best and most wonderful girl in the whole wide world," adding that Guzman wouldn't have wanted her to hate anyone.
"She was so responsible. She loved school. She wanted to be a lawyer. She started taking civil this year," said DeJesus. "She was my best friend, she was my partner."
One of the other family members said Guzman didn't know Howe. The bus the two were riding in when the shooting happened took students to three different area charter schools.
"It's heavy mourning right now. The case is still under investigation. We also don't want to elaborate and say things we don't know about," said one of the men with the family. "We ask that you keep continuing to keep us in your prayers."