A family is reeling from the loss of 38-year-old Jeremiah Sendejo, who was gunned down while on the job at a hotel on San Antonio's Northeast Side. The shooting occurred just before 2 a.m. on Saturday in the 6900 block of Interstate 35 North, and now the San Antonio Police Department is on the hunt for a suspect, as KSAT reported.

According to the victim's mother, Cynthia Sendejo Casey, the confirmation of her son's death was delivered with a simple nod from an officer. "I said, please don’t tell me that you’re here to tell me that my son has passed, and he just looked at me, and he just shook his head and said, yes ma’am, I’m so sorry, and I just lost it," she told KSAT. Responding officers found Sendejo with a gunshot wound inflicted during an altercation with an unknown suspect, who later fled the scene.

Sendejo was pronounced dead after being taken to a local hospital. A coworker, speaking on the condition of anonymity, provided details of the altercation, saying that Sendejo was grappling with another individual when he was blindsided by the shooter. "He didn’t even see the guy come up to him, he was focused on the guy he had pinned on the ground," the coworker stated to KSAT.

The incident's aftermath was also detailed by the anonymous coworker, who described the traumatic sight of Sendejo's girlfriend intervening, trying to save his life. "That’s why I told her I’m glad that they didn’t get mad at you and try and shoot you," said the coworker, recounting the harrowing moments when "As soon as he fell, she dropped to the ground and grabbed him, and he took his last breath in her arms," according to a KSAT interview. The number of suspects the authorities are chasing in connection with this tragic event is yet unknowable.

Mourning their unimaginable loss, Sendejo's family now seeks justice for the slain father of two. "You took my son’s life, and you took a father from their children. He had a heart of gold, he was a singer, he was a jokester, he was my friend," Sendejo Casey shared with KSAT. In the meantime, they are raising funds to ensure Jeremiah can be laid to rest in the family plot in Bishop.