On the evening of February 21, 2014, a tragic event unfolded at the Platanillos Grocery and Jewelry store in Woodbridge, Virginia, forever altering the lives of a young family. Glenda Marisol Coca-Romero, a 21-year-old mother of an infant daughter, was working at the store when three masked men entered shortly before 9:00 p.m. The female employee, who had come to the United States from El Salvador, was shot during the encounter. Tragically, Coca-Romero succumbed to her injuries at the scene.
The assailants, described as three male suspects wearing dark clothing with their faces covered, fled the store immediately after the shooting. In a perplexing turn of events, no money or property was taken from the business, leaving the motive behind the violent act a mystery. A second female employee, a 42-year-old woman, was also shot and critically injured but survived the attack. Two other individuals, a customer and another employee, were present in the store at the time but were unharmed. The entire incident, captured on surveillance video, lasted less than twenty seconds.
In the years following the senseless act, the search for Glenda Marisol Coca-Romero's killers has continued. The Prince William County Police Department, along with the FBI, have been persistent in their investigation, appealing to the public for any information that might lead to a breakthrough in the case. A significant financial reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for her murder. Despite these efforts and the passage of time, the three suspects remain unidentified and at large, leaving a grieving family and community still seeking justice for the young mother whose life was cut short.
