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Phoenix woman speaks out after son tragically shoots, kills daughter in their home

Posted at 7:31 PM, Jul 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-20 22:31:33-04

An unimaginable tragedy for a mother after the death of her only daughter at the hands of her oldest son.

Ignacio Estrada, 19, was booked into jail on several charges after firing a shotgun inside the home he shared with his mother, father and two younger siblings on July 14 — killing his younger sister inside her room.

"This isn't easy. We are torn. He's' still our son but he took something from us that we'll never get back," said Sonia Ramirez, the mother of the victim and the suspect.

RELATED: Man shoots, kills teenage sister 

The day after the tragic event, his mother made an emotional plea asking the judge not to let her son out of jail.

"Do not release him your honor, I don't feel safe around him," Ramirez said.

Fifteen-year-old Reyna Estrada could be described as a tom boy. Her mother says she loved monster trucks and sports. Her favorite teams were the Washington Redskins and the Boston Red Sox.  If you ever saw her, you would never see her without three things: a smile on her face, her long black hair in a side braid, and always wearing a Redskins or Red Sox T-shirt.

She says her daughter would never miss a game and to this day she makes sure she still doesn't.

"I still go into her room and turn on the TV when they're playing," she said.

Ramirez says her daughter had a contagious laugh. She says her daughter had a wonderful relationship with her brothers.

For her 15th birthday, instead of a traditional "Quincenera" she wanted to spend her birthday with her family in Hawaii. She wanted to see if the water was as crystal clear and blue as she had heard it was.

"It was beautiful — it was," Ramirez said.

Ramirez says she reached out to ABC15 to defend herself against negative comments people were posting about her family.

"People should really think before they talk because they don't know how much damage their words do," Ramirez said.  "He had a good childhood; he had everything he need. We didn't raise a monster."

She says her and her husband raised three kids with good morals. They were involved in sports and spent a lot of time together. Just last weekend they had all gone fishing up in Payson.

She says her and her husband worked hard to make sure their kids had everything they wanted and needed. She says her home was free of alcohol, drugs or domestic abuse. 

Ramirez added that she noticed a change in her son and they tried to get him help but there was only so much they could do.

As she mourns the loss of her daughter, and wonders what will happen next with her son, she says she is trying to figure out what their relationship will be like in the future.

"I need to ask the Lord for some kind of guidance," she said.

She also wanted to say thank you to everyone who reached out to her family to help, especially the Phoenix Police Department, Entrusted Pets, Home Depot on 19th Ave and Camelback, Manuel's on McDowell and Dysart, and the many Filiberto's food chains that offered help.

The family will be holding car washes on Sunday and Saturday from 7 a.m. - 4 p.m. help pay for funeral expense.

If you're unable to attend but would still like to donate they've also created a GoFundMe page.