An illegal alien has been charged with allegedly killing a wife and mother, who legally immigrated to the United States from Haiti, in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, last week.
Juan Leonardo Parra Altamirano, a 33-year-old illegal alien from Ecuador, was arrested and charged on Thursday for allegedly causing a deadly crash that left 46-year-old Erpharo Gilbert burning to death in her vehicle and then fleeing the scene.
Local media reports that Altamirano recently arrived in the U.S., suggesting the illegal alien may have crossed the southern border — as millions have — sometime in the last year under President Joe Biden’s administration.
According to police, on April 3, Altamirano was driving northbound on Route 24 when he switched lanes and hit Gilbert’s Honda Accord — sending her to crash into the median’s concrete barrier. Meanwhile, police said Altamirano fled the scene.
Gilbert’s Honda Accord was again struck by a pickup truck in the midst of the crash and caught fire. Gilbert was trapped inside the vehicle and died at the scene. The driver of the pickup truck was not injured.
Erpharo Gilbert, a “beloved wife,” mother of a five-year-old son, and legal immigrant from Haiti, was killed in a crash allegedly caused by an illegal alien in Massachusetts. (Photo via Silva Funeral Home)
Eyewitnesses told police that Altamirano was seemingly drunk when he briefly stopped at the scene of the crash before fleeing. Prosecutors said Altamirano fled the scene because he understood that he is illegally in the U.S.
Jean Marie Coquillon, Gilbert’s husband, told local media that his wife was a loving person who was planning to get her social work license while working for Boston Medical Center.
“She’s gone,” Coquillon told WPRI 12 News. “It was really tough. My 5-year-old son is still waiting for his mom to come home.”
Just before Altamirano’s arrest this week, Coquillon said the illegal alien could have helped save his wife’s life if he had not fled from the scene of the fatal crash.
“This is America. They will find you, wherever you are,” Coquillon said, speaking directly to Altamirano before his arrest. “They will find you and you will pay.”
Gilbert, a legal immigrant from Haiti, leaves behind her husband and her five-year-old son, Warren.
Altamirano is being held in Plymouth County Jail on a $100,000 bail. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has issued a detainer for Altamirano so that if he is released from local police custody at any time, he will be turned over to agents for arrest and deportation.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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