A 29-year-old furniture mover from the Bronx was fatally struck by a stray bullet on DC-295 last week, police said.
Sergio Rosario was on his way back from a job in California and had one more stop to make in D.C. He was in the sleeper cab of a tractor-trailer, with another driver at the wheel, when he was hit by a bullet meant for someone else.
He was the father of a three-year-old, with another child on the way.
A cousin, Jose Morel, told News4 that Rosario's widow is in shock.
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"Right now she is numb," he said. "Numb. She is not there. We are trying to get her counseling because she is not there."
It happened the night of March 30, when people inside two vehicles exchanged gunfire on DC-295 near Foote Street.
One of those rounds hit Rosario about 9:30 p.m., near DC-295's intersection with Kenilworth Avenue NE, the Metropolitan Police Department said. Rosario was on the phone with his wife at the time.
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"He was in the back, you know, where they sleep in the trailer truck on the second floor, the top bunk," the victim's cousin said. "He was talking to his wife, and she thought that he fell asleep, but he was actually dying."
Police told the family nine bullets hit the truck, Morel said.
But the driver did not immediately know there was trouble. He kept driving until a dog who was traveling with them indicated something was terribly wrong.
The driver then came to a stop in the 2000 block of Chillum Road in Prince George's County, Maryland.
Rosario was "just trying to make a life; the mother is going crazy; the wife, like I told you, she’s not there; her mind setting is not right," his cousin said.
Rosario came to the states from the Dominican Republic when he was 16. His family now plans to bring his body back to the Dominican Republic, where he will be buried.
Two other men were shot and wounded in the same exchange of gunfire.
So far there have been no arrests. Morel said D.C. police have told him investigators do have some leads.
Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Seamus Brackett at 202-553-9338; Det. Natasha Kennedy at 202-380-6198 or the Command Information Center at 202-727-9099. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous may submit tips by calling 202-727-9099 or texting 50411.
