POMPANO BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A man who was arrested in an intentional hit-and-run in Pompano Beach that killed a mother of three appeared before a judge.
Edwin Amaya, 30, was charged with premeditated murder.
During his court appearance on Monday, a judge denied Amaya’s bond.
“Sir, you are charged with one count of premeditated murder,” said Judge Michele McCaul Ricco. “I am holding you no bond at this time.”
Amaya is accused of killing Brenda Hernandez Amaya, the mother of his child, with his truck around 9:30 p.m., Saturday.
Broward Sheriff’s Office and Pompano Beach Fire Rescue units responded to the scene of the incident at an apartment complex along Southwest Eighth Street, near South Cypress Road.
The horrific ordeal was captured on cellphone video.
“Let it be a dream. Tell me it’s not true,” said Marlenia Amaya Vasquez, the victim’s mother.
Brenda’s 10-year-old daughter saw the incident.
“He said he wanted to kill all the people who were there,” said Brittany Munguia, the victim’s daughter. “Mom didn’t like problems, she was a really nice person.”
She said her mother was going to dinner with her dad and aunts, when Edwin, 32, came at them, pinning her mother against another car.
“He said he was going, he came to my mom, my mom fell down, when my mom fell down, he went backwards and that’s when my mom got stuck in the wheel,” she said.
Investigators said Edwin abandoned the truck and fled the scene on foot. Edwin was a half-of-a-mile away on South Dixie Highway before deputies located him and was arrested.
According to deputies, Edwin is Brenda’s ex-partner and the father of their two-year-old child.
They said Edwin and Brenda were arguing because he wanted to take their child but she said no because he was drinking, which made Edwin mad. In the heat of the argument, Edwin got into his pickup truck, hit Brenda, and ran off.
Emergency responders rushed Brenda, 29, to Broward Health North where she succumbed to her injuries.
A man, Omar Munguia-Henrique, was walking with Brenda and their two children when he was also struck by Edwin but suffered non-life-threatening injuries. He was hospitalized but is expected to be OK.
Munguia-Henrique is the father of Brenda’s two older children.
He spoke to 7News Monday afternoon.
“He [Edwin] wanted to take the little boy and she [Brenda] insisted that ‘No, no, no.’ And then he got angry. In that moment, he said he was going to his truck to pick up a gun and kill everybody. I jumped on the truck so he wouldn’t leave. He tried to smash me into another car too, but I fell, and he ran over my ankle,” he said.
Now, a family is left broken and three children are left without their mother. They said she was hard-working, humble and dedicated to her family.
According to court records, Edwin was previously arrested in 2018 for domestic violence charges against another woman.
He remains at the Broward County Jail.
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