DENVER — Police are still looking for whoever killed two employees at a restaurant in northwest Denver last week. Emerall Vaughn-Dahler and Ignacio Gutierrez were shot inside American Elm Monday afternoon.
Investigators are asking for tips and have increased the reward for information. That reward is now up to $5,000 as of Saturday.
"My mom got a call from her friend, also a roommate of my mom, notifying her that the incident had happened," said Yarely Ramos.
Ramos' mom was roommates with Gutierrez, a cook at American Elm. They called him "Nacho".
Ramos said she saw him on Monday morning. She got a call that night that Nacho wasn't coming home.
"What happened? What led to this? How did it happen? Why did it happen?" she asked.
The Denver Police Department said someone shot Gutierrez once and Vaughn-Dahler multiple times. Investigators think a robbery could be a possible motive.
"[My mom] is heartbroken. We are all – all my kids are heartbroken because he was such a good person," Ramos said.
She said Gutierrez was working to help pay for his son's education in Mexico. Gutierrez hadn't seen his mom in Mexico in 25 years, and he finally got his immigration paperwork ready to make the trip, according to Ramos. He was planning to visit her in June.
"If you needed something, he was the person that would be there," she said.
Ramos lost a friend. Children lost a father. And they're hoping the community can help them find out why.
"Whoever did this, if you are watching, you know - just know you took a son, a brother, a father, a friend. And I hope you can find it in your heart to repent," Ramos said.
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