A wedding reception in St. Louis, Missouri, took a horrific turn when a groom was shot in the head during an attempted robbery. Manuel and Dulce Gonzalez were celebrating their union with a small backyard party in the Dutchtown neighborhood when two masked gunmen disrupted the joyous occasion.
The incident occurred shortly before 1 a.m. on Saturday. According to FOX 2, the armed assailants entered the premises through a driveway fence shared by the bride and her sister. The gunmen demanded money and ordered everyone to stay still before opening fire, striking 32-year-old Manuel Gonzalez in the head multiple times.
Groom in critical condition
Manuel was immediately rushed to a local hospital, where he remains in critical condition. A GoFundMe page created to support Dulce’s family details the tragic event: “He was getting married with a small family ceremony at her home with their 2 small children. The family was robbed at gunpoint and her husband was shot in the head.” The page further pleads, “He’s alive and in critical condition. We need prayers that he will come through this.”
Despite the violent attack, the suspects fled the scene without taking any money or valuables. “They took nothing, yet they took everything from us,” lamented the bride’s sister, Yaribeth Pena, in an interview with the TV station. She described Manuel as “a good father, a good husband to my sister, a hard worker, and an all-around good person. He didn’t deserve this.”
As of Tuesday evening, the GoFundMe page had raised more than $20,000. The family is urging community members to review their CCTV footage and provide any relevant information to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, as the suspects remain at large and the investigation continues.
This tragic event comes just a month after another wedding-related incident in Indiana, where a groom was jailed hours after his wedding due to a brawl that ensued over a guest flirting with a woman. The groom claimed he did not intend to shoot another man during the struggle over a gun.
Call for Information
Anyone with information on the St. Louis shooting is encouraged to contact the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. The community’s cooperation is vital in bringing the perpetrators to justice and preventing further violence.