Stockton Mom Calls For Fatal Hit-And-Run Driver To Surrender

STOCKTON (CBS13) -– The mother of a 3-year-old boy killed in a hit-and-run on Monday is calling for the driver to turn herself in to police.

"She needs to turns herself in," Lekeisha Mason said Tuesday. "How can you just hit a 3-year-old child and walk away?"

Ruben Ramirez was killed Monday afternoon in front of Madison Market at the corner of N. Madison and Flora.

Mason and the police want 21-year-old Aushua McDuff-Brown to stop running from the law.

McDuff-Brown is accused of ramming her car into little Ruben. She wasn't aiming for the tot. Police say she was going after a woman during a heated fight...the intended target dodged the car, but Ruben just happened to be in front of the store parking his scooter with his mom.

"I was like 2 feet away from him and I saw the car and I tried to grab my son's hand to yank him, but it was too late," Mason said.

The car went straight at Ruben.

"After I saw my baby stuck between the car, I told her to move, 'you just hit my baby, move, move, you just hit my baby,' and she kept pressing the gas," Mason said.

Mason said she ran to the window and even tried to reach through and put the car in reverse.

"When she backed up, he fell to the ground and took his last breath," she said.

Police say McDufff-Brown drove off in a silver Ford Focus. Ruben died at the hospital.

Neighbors say the intended victim was a woman named Shakara. She goes by Shakara Stayfresh on Facebook and posted this about the accident on her wall:
"I can't handle it is sooooo to much... My heart goes out to Da young lady who lost her little son.... I'm so sorry."
Stockton police also are calling on McDuff-Brown to turn herself in.

"The best thing would be if she comes into the Stockton Police Department," Officer Pete Smith said. "Make arrangements to turn yourself in let's get your story."

Meanwhile, neighbors are still trying to make sense of the loss.

"In this neighborhood everyone takes it to heart," Ben Castaneda said.

"Right now it looks like she didn't care if it was a kid or the girl," Gary Maglaya said.

All little ruben's mother can do is hold out hope that closure nears.

"My son didn't deserve it, you can go home to your kids but I can't even see my kid no more," she said.

McDuff-Brown lives in Stockton, and has family in Oakland.

Friends and family held a candlelight vigil in front of the market Tuesday night, with notes for Ruben, balloons, candles and stuffed animals.