- Manuel Gonzalez was shot by masked gunmen at his wedding reception
- Police are still investigating Friday night’s shooting.
A couple’s wedding night turned into a horror show after masked gunmen shot the groom in the head.
Dulce and Manuel Gonzalez finally tied the knot on Friday night after a decade and two children together, KSDK reports.
The evening was going well, with 50 family members celebrating the couple in the backyard of their St. Louis, Missouri, home until the early hours of the morning.
But just before 1 a.m. on Saturday, two masked gunmen entered the party from behind the fence of the bride and her sister’s shared driveway. according to Fox 2 Now.
Dulce and Manuel Gonzalez’s wedding on Friday night turned into a horror when two masked gunmen shot the husband in the head.
The attackers shouted for no one to move as they demanded money from the wedding guests, brandishing their weapons in a threat.
Police say one of the men began going through the guests’ pockets, while the other stood behind the groom, 32, and shot him in the head multiple times.
At that point, the men fled without taking any of the family’s belongings or money.
“They didn’t take anything, but they took everything from us,” the bride’s sister, Yaribeth Peña, told Fox 2, as her new brother-in-law remains in critical condition at a local hospital.
The couple finally tied the knot on Friday after more than a decade and two children together.
The family said they saw some signs of hope when Manuel moved his hands.
“He’s fighting for his life,” Peña said. “We hope he recovers.”
Peña added that her sister is now “distraught, depressed, heartbroken” as police continue to investigate the shooting.
“They said my brother-in-law was going to get his wallet, and maybe they thought he was going to get a gun,” Peña suggested.
The suspects fled on foot after the shooting, without money or any of the family’s belongings.
He said he is now concerned about the safety of his family in the city’s Dutchtown neighborhood.
“I feel like we would have to move to feel comfortable,” she told KSDK, while pleading with the community to help her family locate the suspects, who she believes are teenagers.
A online fundraising A foundation has also been set up to help the family with expenses, including Manuel’s medical bills and loss of income. As of Monday evening, more than $12,000 had been raised.
No arrests have yet been made in connection with the shooting and police say the investigation is ongoing.
But as of Sunday afternoon, the family said detectives had not yet collected all the evidence left at the scene and had not interviewed all the witnesses.