A Missouri man was critically injured when he was shot in an attempted robbery during his backyard wedding in St. Louis over the weekend, officials and family members said.
Saturday was supposed to be a fairy-tale ending: Dulce and Francisco Gonzalez were marrying in their backyard after a decade and two children together. But as the night was wrapping up, two men in ski masks stormed the yard and robbed the family, and Francisco was shot, his family said.
St. Louis police said they responded to reports of a shooting just before 1 a.m. Saturday.
According to a police report, witnesses told officers that two men in ski masks entered the yard and announced a robbery. While they were going through people’s pockets, one of the men, who was armed, pointed two handguns at a man, police said.
Both would-be robbers ran away on foot.
Gonzalez was taken to a hospital, where he was in critical condition, police said.
A GoFundMe campaign set up by a family friend detailed the violence, saying Dulce and Gonzalez were having a “small family ceremony” at Dulce’s home with “their 2 small children.”
“The family was robbed at gunpoint and her husband was shot in the head. He’s alive and in critical condition,” according to the fundraising site. “We need prayers that he will come through this.”
NBC affiliate KDSK of St. Louis reported that the Gonzalezes have been together for more than a decade and have two kids and that 50 relatives were attending their backyard wedding ceremony.
Dulce’s sister, Yaribeth Peña, said Wednesday about 15 people were still at the wedding when two people wearing hoodies and masks grabbed the groom. One of them people stuck a gun to Francisco Gonzalez's head and warned, "Don't move."
Peña said she heard a gunshot and ran inside through a back door and kept running until she made it to a neighbor's house.
She said that shortly afterward, she heard people in her family's yard screaming: "Kiko, got shot in the head. Kiko got shot in the head," explaining that "Kiko" is Francisco Gonzalez's nickname.
The suspects fled, Peña said.
Many people in her family live on the block, Peña said, and they've always felt safe at backyard parties — until now.
“We’re scared. We’re scared to be in our backyard. We’re scared to throw our trash away. We’re scared to walk our pets," she said. "We don’t know if they’re going to come back."
St. Louis police said they are reviewing evidence and interviewing witnesses.
"We will continue to investigate until we bring justice to the victim and his family," police said in a statement Wednesday.
Peña, 33, said her brother-in-law remained hospitalized and has swelling in his brain. He has a long road to recovery, she said.
“We ask for the public to keep praying for Francisco," she said. “There is some brain activity. That’s given us hope.”
