All language subtitles for Homicide.City.S03E01.Tragedy.Strikes.Lorenas.HDTV.x264-CRiMSON[eztv.io]

We were just a happy,
hard-working family

who, you know, moved
into the united states

to have a better life
and a future.

I never saw the violence
coming towards us.

Get down!

No!

I can't even imagine
the level of terror

that those girls must
have experienced.

We gotta go, man! Speed this up!

Wait.

I never in my life thought
that was gonna happen to us.

It's one of the most horrific,

if not the horrific case,
I've ever been involved in,

and I've been involved in a few.

Nobody can understand why this
happened the way it happened.

They destroyed an entire family,

took away three lives,
in 57 seconds.

Not even a minute.

These guys have to be caught.

They didn't deserve to
die like this.

I was born in dominican
republic, in fact,

my siblings, as well.

My parents are
from dominican republic.

They were always hugging
each other and just smiling,

making jokes.

I used to tell them, listen,

you're making me jealous,
you know, with all the love.

You know, it sounds cliche,

the american dream.

The father, he came in here
for a better life,

because this is the land
of opportunity.

Yeah, got this good moringa tea

from republica dominicana.

- Hey!
- Good for you. Wow.

Look at him!
He's so shy in the camera.

And he came to this country

to work so his children
could have a better life.

Porfirio nunez,

he was actually
a psychologist by training

but could not continue to
practice in the united states,

so he had to find another way
to make a living.

The nunez family
decides to go into business.

They buy a bodega
called lorena's.

There was already a sign in
this store that said lorena's,

so they just stuck with that
name, and they went from there.

Lorena's is located
in west philadelphia

in a northern neighborhood
called mill creek.

It's, by west philadelphia
standards, a relatively

quiet neighborhood,

although it certainly does see
its share of violence

and poverty.

But it's a tight-knit community,

and they were certainly
beloved by the people

who lived there.

I gotta be honest,

miss rodriguez is kind of tough
on class right now.

Each day after school,
19-year-old jessica

and sister, laura,
work at the store

with their father,
mother, and aunt.

It's a family business,
and it was all hands on deck.

- Hola papi!
- Hola papi!

Hey, how was school?

- It was good.
- Okay, take checkout.

The girls would come
and work the register,

and they would lock up.

All right.

That store is open
seven days a week,

early in the morning
to late at night.

My dad, he was such a nice guy.

Everybody in the neighborhood
loved him.

Hey, julie, are you?

He would help people, you know,

it's not like he was
just the guy owning the store.

- How much is this?
- $3.50

- hey, look, you take it.
- Are you sure?

Yes, look, you pay
me when you can.

If you didn't have money,
you can come and pay him back.

- Okay? Okay.
- Thank you, mr. Nunez.

You're welcome. Okay.
Have a good day.

Bye!

He was that kind
of guy, you know?

On September 6, 2011, in
the lorena grocery store,

the family was getting ready
to close the store

and celebrate dad's birthday.

Jessica and laura, as they
were getting ready to close,

they were counting the money.

Did you, wrap that shirt

that I got dad for his birthday?

Yeah, I put it in your room.

And mom and the aunt
were in the back,

cleaning up everything there
for the end of the night.

And dad was just stocking
the shelves.

As we are about
to close the store,

these two guys come in.

One of the men heads straight

to the back of the store.

I'm thinking
he's just a customer

that's about to order
a sandwich,

because my aunt
and my mom are back there.

The other man approaches jessica

and her sister
at the cash register.

The guy
that's in the cash register

pulls out a gun.

That's when I noticed,

okay, we're getting robbed.

He forces my sister
on the floor.

Get down!

No!

When she screams,
my dad comes to the front.

Wait!

And he yells, "please, stop."

Stop! Please, stop!

Like many store
owners, porfirio is

armed with a handgun
for self protection,

but he never reaches for it.

And this is all happening,

I mean, seconds.

It's going really fast.

Suddenly,
the gunman shoots porfirio

in the chest.

The other gunman
shoots jessica's mother, juana,

several times
in the chest and face,

and aunt lina
in the back and neck.

The shooting starts
going crazy in the back.

My dad is trying to save them.

He's down, he's incapacitated
from his injuries.

He can't move.

Then, the gunman turns
his weapon back on porfirio.

Next, both gunmen
focus their attention

on jessica, who stands frozen
by the cash register.

At that point,
I'm not screaming.

I'm not doing anything.

I'm just...

Just breathing.

What you waiting for,
an invitation?

Hand me that.

So now I have a gun
on my forehead,

and then I have one on my waist.

So I have two guns now.

And I said to the guy
in front of me, I said,

"please don't kill me."

we gotta go, man. Speed this up!

I said, "do you want a bag

to put in the money?"

and he says, "yes."

I gave him the bag,
and they left.

We out.

And my sister, the entire time,
was on the floor.

She has no idea what's going on.

She thought they were
shooting cans all around

the store,

and so I said to her,
"no, they killed them."

please be advised we have

reports of a 1054.

I was working as
a night police reporter.

We would sit in the newsroom
and listen to police radio.

I heard this call come out

for a triple homicide
at this location.

So as soon as I heard that,
I drove over to

west philadelphia.

The gunmen walk away
with about $700.

Not a very significant
amount of money for

killing three people.

I just remember
this feeling of just

shock and dread that descended
over this area.

People love the nunezes,
so people just...

Just didn't know how to react.

From the moment
they come in to come out

is 57 seconds.

They destroyed an entire family,

took away three lives,
in 57 seconds.

Not even a minute.

When
the first responders came in,

they found mr. Nunez along
the refrigerator section

in one of the aisles,

and then, when they got
to the back of the store,

behind the sandwich
counter they found

the, aunt and the mother.

Most of our cases are
one individual gettin' killed.

We may have a double
every once in a while.

It's rare that we'll have
three homicide in one place.

And attributed to a robbery.

It's just like, why,
like, nobody can understand

why this happened
the way it happened.

In the hours
following the triple murder

of the nunez family,

homicide detectives
process the crime scene.

When me and my supervisor
arrived on the scene,

no one was in the store,
because we didn't want

to disturb the evidence.

There were nine-millimeter
casings recovered,

what we call ay the fcc,
a fire cartridge casing.

You noticed one soon as you
walk in the front door,

which we believe that might
have been the first shot fired.

And there were several in

the back where the two women
were killed.

The crime scene unit
photographed,

videotaped, sketched the scene,
and collected the evidence,

and we collected anything
from fingerprints

to dna to blood samples.

We tried to get
everything to encompass

all the evidence that we think

we would need to
solve the crime.

The next step is what's
called neighborhood surveys.

It's old-style detective work.

They knock on every door
and say, "do you know anything?

"did you see anything?

Tell me about this store."

excuse me,
I'm detective hagan...

Can you tell me what happened
here tonight?

Anything you saw,
anything you heard?

No, I just came over
'cause I seen the tape.

There was some cooperation
from people in the community.

Of course, there was some
people who didn't want

to cooperate.

Are you from the area?

- Yeah, live across the street.
- Yes, we live across the street.

These people live
in the neighborhood,

so if they know the killer,
the killer knows them,

knows where they live,
who their children are,

with their grandparents are.

They're praying
the police or solve it,

but they can't step forward,
because the reality is this...

People are threatened,

and people are killed.

Is there anybody else in
the area I should speak with,

or...? - No, I'm sorry.

- I really don't know much.
- No?

They'll even say up front,

I am not saying anything,
because I don't want to die.

All right, well,
I appreciate your time.

Thank you so much.

- Thank you.
- All right.

At the homicide unit,
surviving sisters,

jessica and laura, are waiting
to give their statements.

It was...

It was indescribable.

I mean, what we were going
through was unbelievable.

I met with jessica.

I introduced myself and told her

I would be
the assigned detective.

Jessica, I'm detective hagan.

I'm assigned to
the incident that took place.

I can't tell you how sorry I am.

She just kind of sat
there, emotionless.

Still in shock.

I understand it might be
something that you don't want

to talk about at this moment,

but I'm gonna need to ask you

some questions.

His first questions, I guess,

is your regular first
questions after a crime

like that, it's what happened,
you know,

how did it happen,
where were you?

If I recognize the guys,
if I've seen them before.

Jessica, did you get
a good enough look

at these two

to tell me what they look like,

maybe what they were wearing?

They were both black.

One was 5'8", 160 pounds.

He was the one who asked
for the money.

She described the first shooter
as a shorter male, dark skin,

a little on the husky side.

The other guy was taller.

Would you be able to pick
them out of a lineup

if I showed you some pictures?

Think you would be able
to recognize 'em?

I will never forget their faces.

All I kept thinking is,
like, there has to be a way

where it... by me describing
certain things,

they could just go
and find them.

And then when you realize
how many people fit

that description,

you're like, wow, that's...
That's a lot of people.

Detectives explore possible

motives for the murders,

even ones that seem dubious.

One theory was mr. Nunez
was part of

some kind of
dominican drug gang,

and they came in to rob
store because, you know, he was

dealing in drugs and he had what
they consider weight, you know,

a large amount of drugs in
the store, so we kind of

investigated everything to make
sure that, you know, there was

no illegal activity, even went
to a prison to interview one

of the guys
from the neighborhood

that was supposed to be
a well-known drug dealer

in the neighborhood.

So mr. Nunez is clean.

And the store is legit.

He said, point blank,

mr. Nunez was not a drug dealer.

He was a family man,
and that was a business.

And this is coming from
somebody who was known to

sell large amount of drugs
in the neighborhood

and was in federal custody
at the time.

Although physical evidence was

collected from the crime scene,

it turns out to be a dead end.

Unfortunately,
the fingerprints didn't lead

to anything substantial
at that time.

The only dna that was
collected would

have been most likely
from the victims.

We didn't find any other

possible dna
from possible suspects.

We ran gun checks on every gun

that was confiscated
in philadelphia

that was a nine-millimeter.

I had a weekly report
coming from our firearms

identification unit
when every nine-millimeter

was confiscated in the city,
and we were not able

to find a match on anything.

Then there's a lucky break.

Detectives track down
surveillance video from

a chinese restaurant across
the street from lorena's.

It was video that depicted
two individuals arriving

to do the robbery and then
after the robbery, they flee

the same way they came.

Poor quality.

You can barely make out faces.

You can't really make
a physical,

facial identification out of it.

It's not clear enough to where
I could see the guy's face.

But as you watch,
I'm going back and forth,

you can see his mannerisms,
the way he's walking,

the way he's carrying himself,

you just don't know his face.

You could still see the guy's
watch as he's leaving.

The face of it was...
Was thick and significant.

The video can't provide

a visual identification
on the gunmen,

but it does offer
a potential lead.

White van.

When we looked at the video,

we noticed the van was
circling the block around

the time of the murders.

So we thought it was like
a getaway van.

See this...

Is that writing on the side?

And the van had a inscription
on the side of it

we couldn't quite make it
out through the video.

So we wanted to find out
where is this van,

who owns this van,
who was in this van?

I mean, we couldn't say for
certain this is part of it,

but we weren't gonna exclude it.

We wanted to find those people.

Philadelphia police hope
that this surveillance video

will help them
catch two killers,

investigators think the two...

Somebody actually
saw it on the news,

and it wound up being the guy
who owned the van,

and he called,
made arrangements for comin' in.

He brought the van in,
we took pictures of the van,

and he was cleared
by investigation

after he said, "I was just
picking up junk."

from that point on, we went by
any tips that we gained.

- Have a seat, sir.
- Thanks.

One tip in particular seems to

hold promise.

So what information
do you have for me today?

Well, I saw this pontiac grand
am parked in the neighborhood,

it was black, and there was some
jersey tags on the car.

A witness comes forward and says
that they live near lorena's,

and the night of the homicide,

they came home,
and they noticed a black

pontiac grand am parked in
the area that had jersey tags,

and that was an unusual
vehicle for these blocks.

Was this car occupied,
was somebody in it?

Or was... it was just
sitting there empty?

Yeah, it was just empty.

Then I heard the gunshots go
off, and I saw these two men run

down the middle of the street
and hop into the car,

and then it pulled off.

The neighbor believed he saw
them getting in the pontiac,

but we're not sure if it's
the same males that came out

of the store.

He just saw two males getting

in the pontiac after
he heard gunshots.

As soon as I heard the gunshots,

I saw those two guys run
into their car.

Shortly after, okay.

- Seemed a little suspicious,
- okay.

So I feel like they must
be involved in it or something.

You have to be careful,
because some people

like to embellish on the story.

I mean, we did investigate it,

but we didn't find any
credibility to this story.

Thank you so much.
This is helpful information.

- Glad I could help.
- I appreciate you coming in.

-No, problem.
Thanks for having me.
-Good job.

To a certain point,
it gets frustrating when

you're just looking
for a shot in the dark.

You don't know exactly
what you're looking for,

but hoping that one person who
might have saw something

calls you and says, "listen,

this is a person
we're looking for."

Shortly after
the tragic murders,

jessica is walking down
a street not far from lorena's.

I remember it was about
two o'clock in the afternoon,

I mean, kids were
coming out of school.

And I see a guy riding
the bike from the other block

behind me with a hoodie on.

I could swear that was the guy
that was with us

in the cash register.

He's looking, but he's trying
to figure my face out,

like, you can see him
riding very slow.

And so he has both hands
on the bike,

and when he sees me
standing there,

he puts one of his hands inside.

That's when I thought,
"I'm dead.

This is it."

and so he looks, but he sees
that I can't see his full face.

He just takes off.

And I called
the police right away.

I said, "listen,

I could swear that was him."

we tried to track down the guy

on the bike
and never could locate him.

And we never validated

whether it was the same male
or not that robbed the store.

Jessica wanted to find
these guys in the worst way

for taking her family
away from her.

September 14, 2011, 8 days

after losing the people
closest to her,

jessica nunez and her sister,
laura, are starting to face

the grim reality of
a new life scarred by loss.

We took the bodies,
and we buried them

in the dominican republic.

My mom's family is still there.

During the funeral days,

you see so many people
around you,

you don't have the time
to think, you're too busy.

But I was going through so much.

I mean, no sleeping, no eating,

and, of course,
having nightmares every day.

You couldn't close
your eyes because

you're thinking
you're at the store.

Literally, I thought
I was gonna go crazy.

It was a difficult time.

I never saw it, like, that
violence coming towards us.

I never, never in my life
thought that was gonna happen

to us.

I made that promise
to my parents

to find the people
that killed them.

Like, if the police is working,
I'm working, too.

After that, I decided,
you know what?

I'm gonna start working
in all the stores around

the neighborhood or the area
until I find him.

She worked at seven different

grocery stores in
the surrounding area.

I decided I'm just
going undercover on my own.

I would change my looks

probably every 2 to 3 weeks,
I will dye my hair

blonde to red to black.

I went through so many
different haircuts.

I was hiding it from my family.

I was hiding it from my sister.

I didn't want her
to worry about it.

They were not happy that I was
working at a store,

but they didn't know my motives.

I never wanted to tell them
I'm doing this,

because I'm sure they were
gonna stop me

and tell me, "let the police

just do their job."

I kept in touch with her
just about every other day,

and she was just relentless
in trying to get these guys

locked up,

and she was willing to do
anything it took.

I didn't care if
I was gonna die in the streets.

I knew my risks,

and I knew what I was, you know,

getting myself into.

If she ran into the person
that killed her parents

and her aunt, she probably
would have fought him.

Meanwhile, detectives
continue to field tips,

hoping one will yield the break
they're looking for.

This is detective hagan.

There was one tip
involving a guy.

He fit the description
of the second male,

who was a taller male.

Are you sure?

What's the man's name?

His nickname was black.

Black was known in
the neighborhood to

do robberies,

sell drugs, carry a gun
all the time,

and he had just
got out of prison.

So that kind of piqued
our interest also,

maybe I'm looking
for some quick money.

Through investigation,
we found out he wasn't even

in the area at the time
of the murders.

You get your hopes up,

you think you're gonna get
a good lead to get to the bottom

of the story,

and then it's very frustrating,
because it just got

to a point where
we ran out of leads.

I think that the detectives
were feeling pretty

exasperated by the fact

that they just couldn't
get much on this case.

These guys were still
on the loose,

and they were clearly
incredibly dangerous

and ruthless.

People were afraid...
It felt very likely

that they were gonna
strike again.

If they did that once,
they'll do it again.

They don't care.
These guys have to be caught.

On Thursday, January 19, 2012,

a little more than four months
after the nunez murders,

philadelphia p.D. Homicide
captain james clark sets up

a task force headed by
homicide veteran bob wilkins.

Captain called me in the office,

asked me would I like to be
a supervisor for the task force.

The assigned detective
at that time,

he was investigating,

but he was starting
to run out of leads.

That's where we came in.

Captain made a decision just to

get a fresh set of
eyes to look at the case.

We started the investigation
from scratch,

and we left no stones unturned,
we were everywhere.

We'd look at the neighborhood,
we want to

get a pulse of what's
going on out there.

We're bringing in uniforms
from that district,

people that work that area,
are from that area,

see what they're hearing
on the street,

let us know, we'll start
interviewing people

that we know associates
with the criminal element.

We'll talk to the drug dealers,
we'll talk to the drug users.

We'll start bringing them in,

and we'll just start talking.

Somebody has to know something
or somebody's seen something.

A few months after she
sees the man on the bicycle,

jessica is working the cash
register at the haver deli

when she thinks
she sees the man again.

I was working in
a bigger store this time,

and there was
cameras everywhere.

I saw a guy that looked
just like one of them,

the same guy that I

could swear passed by
on the bike.

The way he looked at me
and how he was walking,

just the entire moment
that he was at the store,

I'm freaking out because
again, I'm thinking these people

are looking for me to kill me.

Jessica calls
detectives and, in a panic,

rushes to the back of the store.

It is just so many things
going through my body

at that moment.

I remember having a breakdown.

I couldn't even breathe.
I couldn't even breathe.

I felt, like, dizzy.

It was really bad.

Immediately, I dispatched
uniform out to the location.

When we get to the store, that
individual's not in the store

anymore, and it comes out,
this is not the guy.

After four months,
the nunez murder

investigation is still
at square one.

But on Tuesday,
January 31st, when two

detectives run into each other
outside of court,

they make an important
connection.

- Joe!
- Tom.

How are ya?

Detective murray was assigned

to special investigations

within southwest detectives
specializing in robberies.

Very good reputation
as far as,

a thorough investigator,
a dogged investigator.

Just a good detective.

Actually, I've been meaning
to talk to you.

I've been reassigned a case,
and I wanted your input,

the nunez groceries.

I'm like, "listen,
it'll save me a phone call.

"I'm glad I ran into you...
I'm being re-assigned a case,

"and I was gonna reach out
to you about it.

It's the nunez grocery."

nunez, yeah.

You ought to take a closer
look at that

a&a grocery armed robbery
on gratz street.

There's another one on reedland.

- Really?
- Looks a lot like

your nunez case.

Detective murray tells gaul

he thinks it's possible
that the same men who

committed two recent armed
robberies could also

be responsible for the nunez
triple murders.

All right, thanks.
I'm gonna follow up,

all right? I'll call you soon.

- Sounds good.
- Cool. Thank you, man.

The other two robberies
are the exact same method

of operation, you know,
two guys come in.

One guy goes to the front
where the cash box is,

and one guy goes to the back
and they keep

an eye on the store.

The task force is able
to acquire surveillance

footage from one of
those grocery stores.

It looked like a prime video,
like, it was really good,

and you could see
the one offender in

the rear of the store as
the robbery is committed.

You see his gun,
you see the watch.

It's really, really specific.

It was observed that
one of the males

in the video had the same
clothing on as the nunez store,

which really brought
our attention to him.

So we released that video
to the press just saying, look,

we're looking for help
for this robbery.

Once we do that,
some tips are coming in.

On February 7, 2012,

someone calls and says
he recognizes one of the men.

Are you serious?

Let's get him in here
right away!

At one point,
my detective comes to me

and says,
"this guy may be able to I.D.

On the photo."

okay.

He gaul, we got somebody
who can I.D. The killer.

- Really? Brilliant.
- Got him.

When we get that information,

everything stops, I mean,
we just

stopped dead in our tracks.

We get this individual in,
now we're listening to this guy

tell us what he knows.

So how do you know this guy?

I recognized the picture on tv.

I used to hang out with
the guy around philly.

I see him at parties
on the corner.

I knew the same people he knew.

What's his name?

It's ibrahim muhammed.

Ibrahim muhammed.

He gives us a name,
ibrahim muhammed.

We put that in our database.

And sure enough, he pops out.

Is this the man
you're talking about?

That's ibrahim muhammed.

I swear to god that's him.

We get a photo of him,
we go show the guy.

He says, "that's the guy
I'm talking about."

he's a drug dealer.

He was selling drugs in the area

of 62nd and reedland.

31-year-old
ibrahim muhammed has been in

and out of jail for theft
and felony drug charges.

Now we have
a person of interest.

We know who we're looking for.

At this point
in the investigation,

we have a meeting
with narcotics.

We showed 'em the photo,

we tell them this is
our person of interest

on the triple homicide.

They take off running.

In hopes of catching
ibrahim muhammed,

the narcotics unit
carries out a drug bust

on the 6200 block
of reedland street,

and, in a stroke of luck,
five months after the brutal

murder of the nunez family,

detectives arrest
ibrahim muhammed,

one of the suspected killers.

They get him selling.

They arrest him at that point,

and when he arrives at homicide,

we place him in
one of our interview rooms.

Detective gaul is eerily
reminded of the robbery video.

He walks him in.

I'm watching his physical
characteristics, seeing

type of gait,

you know, saying type physical
description, angular face.

And the watch was
very significant.

It was almost,
like, emblazoned in my brain,

you know what I mean?
From watching the video so much.

Listen, my friend,
I'm on your side.

I just need to ask you

some questions about
the nunez triple murder

that happened
this past September.

One of my tactics was when

I went in was just
friendly conversation.

I didn't want him to feel
under pressure.

I didn't want him to feel
like we was bullying him.

It wasn't me. It wasn't me.

I don't know what you guys
are talking about.

I didn't do it.

Look, the only thing that's
gonna save you right now

is telling us exactly what
happened and exactly what

you did.

I said, "look, you've been
waiting for this knock

on your door since
September 7th of 2011."

I said,
"here we are in the middle

of February, and the knock
on the door came."

I'm trying to explain to him,
listen, they have you,

they know it's you.

They got you on video.

Okay, okay.

It was supposed
to just be a robbery.

I was never gonna shoot anyone.

But the guy, he had a gun.

They targeted bodega stores.

Usually they would come in,
produce the gun,

people would give over the cash,

and the guys would just leave.

But they panicked.

Everything is a blur.

Soon as I got to the back,

I shot the woman.

And I saw the guy on the floor,

I saw him trying to get back
up, and I shot him dead.

He described how
he shot all three.

So now we have enough to

arrest and charge ibrahim
muhammed for all three

just based on his confession.

If he had done
just a regular robbery

and walked out
and left that family intact,

he wouldn't have got the heavy
hammer that homicide

went after him.

When you kill someone,
you've now joined

the big leagues,
because we don't let that go.

When we heard that there was
an arrest finally made,

it was just relief.

There was palpable relief
across the city.

It was like, "thank god."

ibrahim muhammed wastes
no time in naming

the other gunman.

Who was your accomplice?

His name's malik.

- And malik's last name?
- Scott.

I think that his motive
to give the malik scott

was he was hoping that

that would turn into
a bargaining chip.

His main concern
was the death penalty.

That guy felt no remorse.

Two days later, on
Saturday, February 11, 2012

30-year-old malik scott is
apprehended by law enforcement.

Malik also has a long rap
sheet of prior convictions.

Even though we have enough
to arrest malik scott

and ibrahim muhammed
based on his confession,

everybody wants to have
a successful trial.

Now the next game plan is we're
gonna show identification,

arrays, you know, photo arrays
to the witnesses.

Hi, jessica,
it's detective gaul.

Yes, we've got something.

They called me and they told me

that they needed to come over,
it's early in the morning,

I'm like, "my gosh."

I was in shock.

It's just over
five months since jessica nunez

and her sister
watched their mother,

father, and aunt's execution
during an armed robbery at

the family's grocery store.

Jessica is anxiously awaiting

a meeting with detective gaul
and wilkins.

I had a feeling that
it was something good,

whether they got one of the guys

or I thought they got, like,
the gun or something.

Now, jessica, I've got
a couple of photos to show you,

okay?

Can you tell me if
you recognize either of

these two men?

My god.

As soon as I saw the pictures,
I knew who they were.

That's them.

These are the people
who killed my family.

Grown men don't cry,

but you could see wet eyes,
you know, as we're talking, ,

because that's how you felt
just looking at her.

It's okay. It's okay.

Your parents would be proud.

Once we got the identifications,

we have enough
to charge malik scott

and ibrahim muhammed.

Detectives can finally
piece together what happened

to the nunez family
on September 6, 2011.

It's porfirio nunez's birthday,

and the family is getting
ready to close up a little bit

early for the night so that

they can go be together
and celebrate his birthday.

I don't think that these guys
went in there to kill

the nunezes.

I think they went in there
to rob the place.

The other two robberies,
even though they didn't

end in death, they were still
that violent-type,

intimidating nature
right from the juncture.

They definitely had
it pre-planned.

They hit 'em right before
they were closing,

and they went in there almost
like a tactical team.

Malik always goes to
the counter, that's his thing.

He's the counter guy
getting the money.

Then the second gunman,
he's the one that always

goes to the back,
and muhammed is

the violent guy.

He likes being out there
giving the orders.

Hurry up!

We gotta go, man. Speed this up.

Get down!

No!

Malik grabs laura. She screams.

No!

Jessica freezes...
The guy has a gun.

Dad, when he hears

his daughter scream,
turns, runs to the counter,

as he's running there,
he's saying... Wait!

"wait, wait, wait!"

wait! Wait!

And it's malik that,
once he sees

the threat of mr. Nunez
with the gun,

he shoots him.

He didn't deserve to get shot.

He was trying to protect
his girls.

At that moment,
he wasn't protecting a store.

He was protecting
his little girl.

Now muhammed goes
and sees the two women

that obviously see him the most.

He kills both of them,

comes back,

sees mr. Nunez
still moving around.

Shoots and kills him.

It happened so quickly,
they didn't see it coming.

They didn't expect it.

This was the devastation
of a family, killing

good people and then killing
unarmed women.

It's one of the most horrific,
if not the horrific case,

I've ever... I've ever
been involved in.

And, I've been
involved in a few.

What you waiting for,
an invitation?

Speed this up!

Hurry up!

We out, bro.

Detectives will never
know why the gunmen spared

jessica and laura's lives.

They're blessed to be alive.

We don't know why the guys
didn't kill 'em.

We have no idea.

Some guys would have killed
everybody in the store,

so there were no witnesses
left... for them two

to be alive, it's a miracle.

My family had a grocery store
just like theirs,

and all of us worked in it
just like they did.

Our store had been
burglarized, had been robbed

at gunpoint,

knifepoint... I would pray that
they wouldn't be killed.

My mother, father, sister,

grandmother... I'm glad I had
the case, because what I feared

the most, those girls lived.

So it was very personal saying
that these girls need me.

On December 6, 2016,

5 years after the triple slaying

at lorena's that
shook philadelphia,

the case finally goes to trial.

I'm so nervous now,
because yeah, we got them.

But are we gonna get justice?

Are they gonna walk out within
a year or two and then come

back and probably kill
the little girl that put them

in jail?

I was going through
so much mentally

thinking that that was
gonna happen.

I remember sitting in
the courtroom.

We were holding hands.

Once they had a verdict,
I remember my family praying.

On December 21, 2016,
ibrahim muhammed

and malik scott are found
guilty of first-degree murder

in the 2011 deaths

of porfirio nunez,
juana nunez, and lina sanchez.

The jury came back
in an hour, guilty.

They didn't even ask for
a single picture exhibit,

they just ordered lunch
and convicted them like that.

I started crying.

My sister started crying.

You feel peace.

But then you realize that no
matter... no matter how many

years they get in jail,

you're still not gonna
get them back.

And you still have to
understand that you're not

gonna have your dad walkin' you

down the aisle or, you know,
call your mom if

something is wrong.

You still have to realize
those things.

We got the guys,
and what little solace it

gives them saying these guys
were brought to justice,

they didn't get away with it,

you know, my parents are dead,
but guess what?

You got caught.
You got convicted.

I know that the family,
the survivors,

didn't want them to face
the death penalty,

because it was against
their beliefs.

So this was the best thing
that prosecutors

in the city could do
for them was to

make sure that these men have
no possibility of parole.

They're never gonna be
back on the street.

They're never gonna

see the light of day outside of

a prison ever again to
terrorize another family.

Jessica took over the role
of her mom and dad.

She took care of her younger
sister and her younger brother.

She became spokesperson
for the family.

Just resilience is the word
I can think of

when I think of jessica.

If I thought I was so weak
and I didn't think

I was like this strong girl,

then my dad would tell me I was,

or... or "you can do
everything you want,"

and "you can do anything if
you put yourself into it."

took me a few years, um,
to understand that,

yeah, I am strong.

I survived,
and I learned to move on.

And jessica finds a way to honor

her family by doing
what she loves most.

The music was
my connection with my dad.

He likes to sing and act,
and I had the same personality.

In July 2019,
jessica was selected to compete

on "reina de la cancion,"
the spanish version

of "the voice."

I remember the first time
when I did my audition,

I literally felt like they
were walking with me on stage.

I was filled with so much
happiness and peace

at the same time.

And so I will always
say something to them.

Be like, "listen,

"your little crazy girl's
about two something,

so just rock with me."