By Bianca Eugene

What first started as a family outing to 7-Eleven quickly became a tragic event, leaving a pregnant Haverstraw mother of six, dead.

On Wednesday, February 20^th, Jason Mendez, 35, was smoking outside of the convenience store when 32-year-old Shawn DeLoatch, the patriarch of the family, asked him not to smoke in front of his children. Enraged by DeLoatch’s request, Mendez went into his car and ran the family over a first time, then proceeded to “…reverse his car about 20 feet and drove forward and struck them again,” according to lohud.com. Three out of the six kids, (all ranging from 11 months to 10-years-old), were in “serious condition” but Shawn and the children face no life-threatening injuries. The tragedy, however, left the mother, Melissa, and her unborn child, dead.

Mendez plead “not guilty” to the attack and may face 25+ years in prison if found guilty.

Rest in peace to Melissa and her unborn baby.

**Condolences to the DeLoatch family**

Sources: https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2019/02/20/thiells-several-people-injured-after-car-drives-thru-7-11/2929981002/

https://abcnews.go.com/US/york-man-intentionally-runs-family-car-killing-injuring/story?id=61205356