Although police identify her as 33-year-old Rosemary Rivera, her sister and brother-in-law say she goes by Reyna Aguirre Alonso and is 29, a native of Veracruz, Mexico.
Her relatives say that her life was working at the Caribe Mini Market in the 3300 block of Mutter Street. They say she worked there seven days a week from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
"She was a very loving person, she would bend backwards to help anybody; she was well loved in the area and it's not fair what they did to her," brother-in-law Henry Cabrera said.
Alonso had told her sister that she had witnessed the killing of 22-year-old Luis Omar Chevere back on Nov. 26th just outside the store.
"She was afraid, she had witnessed the murder of that man. She would call me at night and tell me she couldn't sleep because she felt someone was going to come in and kill her because she saw everything," the victim's sister Alma Cabrera said in Spanish.
Police say at around 7:40 p.m. Monday, a man wearing a grey hoodie and a ski mask walked in the store where Alonso was working behind the counter and shot her four times execution style.
"The doer walks in, doesn't say a word to her. There were two other employees inside the store. He doesn't say a word to them. He just opens the door that leads behind the cash register where she's at and just starts firing," Philadelphia Police Captain James Clark said.
Earlier yesterday, police had posted a picture of 22-year-old Jorge 'J Rock' Aldea, a notorious convicted drug dealer with a long history of violence wanted in connection with the killing of Omar Chevere - the killing that Alonso had witnessed.
Now, family members question whether her cooperation with police may have played a role in her death.
"They picked her up from the store, they took her to identify these people and then they dropped her back at the store and now, they don't have her as a witness," Alma Cabrera said.
Adding to her pain and dismay, the victim's sister and brother-in-law say they don't have the $6,000 the funeral director says it will cost to ship the body back to Mexico where the rest of the family is in mourning.
"That's why we set up a fund at TD Bank for all her friends to go there and donate whatever they can, it would be greatly appreciated," Henry Cabrera said.
The account at TD Bank is called 'Benefit of Reyna Aguirre Alonso.'
Action News also spoke with the consul of Mexico for Philadelphia Carlos Cabralles and he says they are also planning in donating money to the fund.
