Oakland family devastated after mother of eight killed in confrontation with suspected drug dealers

An Oakland family is heartbroken after a woman was shot and killed while trying to protect her children and confronted a group of suspected drug dealers.

Blanca Velasco and her daughter were only trying to protect their children when they tried to talk to a group of suspected drug dealers parked in front of their house. However, their 33-year-old daughter, Maria Ramos, was shot by one of the vehicle's occupants.

A memorial to Blanca Velasco's daughter now stands outside her East Oakland home. Ramos had eight children ranging in age from 1 to 15. Her 5-year-old daughter is still waiting for her mother to come home.

“She says, 'I heard mom is dead, but she's still coming back from the hospital, right, grandma,'” said Blanca Velasco, Ramos' mother. “I would say yes, because I don't know how to tell her she's not coming back.”

A week agoVelasco and Ramos noticed a blue Toyota in front of their house that they believed was trying to deliver marijuana vaporizers to one of the teens.

“When I saw them, I just wanted to let them know that my children are 11, 13, 15 and 16,” Velasco said. “Don't come by my house.”

Velasco said they followed the car as it drove away. When they stopped, they thought they would just have a conversation.

“When I saw they were kids, I thought, 'These are kids,'” Velasco said. “I told my daughter, 'It's just you and me, two girls, no guns. They'll probably just yell at us.' But I never thought they could have a gun. My daughter got out of the car, looked at me and turned around. When she turned around, I just saw her running and heard the bang. It just happened so fast.”

To prevent her daughter from being hit by the bullets, Velasco parked her car between her daughter and the suspects and then drove them away from the crime scene, with her life now in danger.

“When I saw the guy over there with the gun in his hand make eye contact and then point the gun at me, I stepped on the gas. So they followed me,” Velasco said.

About a block away, the suspects fled and Velasco drove back to her daughter's home, assuming Ramos had dodged the bullets. Instead, she found her lifeless body on the ground.

“It's very upsetting to be put on hold when we called 911,” she said. “I said, 'Baby, please, your kids still need you and I need you. Please breathe slowly.' And she did, she breathed through her nose. She did it about five times.”

Oakland police tried to keep Ramos alive until emergency responders arrived, but she died at the scene. Velasco is trying to grieve the loss of her daughter, but she says the 13 grandchildren she currently cares for keep her busy. She just hopes that one day she can tell Ramos' children that the people who took their mother's life are paying for their crimes.

“I want justice for my daughter,” Velasco said. “The way they took her life was so unfair. Oakland is very bad and I don't see it changing. I just see it getting worse every day.”