ST. PETERSBURG -- "You know who did this... you need to come forward."
That was the message survivors of a woman shot to death while riding across an intersection Tuesday night delivered to the man driving her... who was also the father of her two children.
The mother and two sisters of 21-year-old K'mia Simmons teared up in a news conference at St. Petersburg police headquarters, asking a man identified by detectives as Parise Lovett Jr. ("PJ") to speak to investigators.
One of Simmons' sisters described Lovett as a "coward." Police say he grabbed his two children with Simmons, aged one and two years old, from the car Tuesday night and fled, leaving Simmons to die alone.
Simmons' mother told reporters her youngest daughter had dreams of becoming a gynecologist and opening an OB-GYN clinic with her sister. She was taking nursing courses at a community college.
Speaking of her daughter, she noted how Simmons covered her baby, held in her arms, with her body. Bullets barely missed her other child, in a car seat in back.
Simmons' sister addressed Lovett directly, calling him a "coward" and saying that if he weren't, he wouldn't have left her.
"Your daughter cries for 10-11 hours straight" and nothing quiets her down, she said.
Photo: St. Petersburg Police