Original subtitles

We were just a happy, hard-working family

who, you know, moved into the United States

to have a better life and a future.

I never saw the violence coming towards US.

Get down!

No!

I can't even imagine the level of terror

that those girls must have experienced.

Man: We gotta go, man! Speed this up!

Wait.

I never in my life thought that was gonna happen to US.

It's one of the most horrific,

if not the horrific case, I've ever been involved in,

and I've been involved in a few.

Nobody can understand why this happened the way it happened.

They destroyed an entire family,

took away three lives, in 57 seconds.

Not even a minute.

These guys have to be caught.

They didn't deserve to die like this.

I was born in Dominican republic, in fact,

my siblings, as well.

My parents are from Dominican Republic.

They were always hugging each other and just smiling,

making jokes.

I used to tell them, listen,

you're making me jealous, you know, with all the love.

You know, it sounds cliche,

the American dream.

The father, he came in here for a better life,

because this is the land of opportunity.

Yeah, got this good moringa tea

from republica dominicana.

-Girl: Hey! -Good for you. Wow.

Girl: Look at him! He's so shy in the camera.

And he came to this country

to work so his children could have a better life.

Zalot: Porfirio Nunez,

he was actually a psychologist by training

but could not continue to practice in the United States,

so he had to find another way to make a living.

The Nunez family decides to go into business.

They buy a bodega called Lorena's.

There was already a sign in this store that said Lorena's,

so they just stuck with that name, and they went from there.

Lorena's is located in west Philadelphia

in a northern neighborhood called mill creek.

It's, by west Philadelphia standards, a relatively

quiet neighborhood,

although it certainly does see its share of violence

and poverty.

But it's a tight-knit community,

and they were certainly beloved by the people

who lived there.

I gotta be honest,

miss Rodriguez is kind of tough on class right now.

Each day after school, 19-year-old Jessica

and sister, Laura, work at the store

with their father, mother, and aunt.

It's a family business, and it was all hands on deck.

-Hola papi! -Hola papi!

Hey, how was school?

-It was good. -Okay, take checkout.

Vega: The girls would come and work the register,

and they would lock up.

All right.

Vega: That store is open seven days a week,

early in the morning to late at night.

My dad, he was such a nice guy.

Everybody in the neighborhood loved him.

Hey, Julie, are you?

He would help people, you know,

it's not like he was just the guy owning the store.

-How much is this? -$3.50

-hey, look, you take it. -Are you sure?

Yes, look, you pay me when you can.

If you didn't have money, you can come and pay him back.

-Okay? Okay. -Thank you, Mr. Nunez.

You're welcome. Okay. Have a good day.

Bye!

Jessica: He was that kind of guy, you know?

On September 6, 2011, in the Lorena grocery store,

the family was getting ready to close the store

and celebrate dad's birthday.

Jessica and Laura, as they were getting ready to close,

they were counting the money.

Did you, wrap that shirt

that I got dad for his birthday?

Yeah, I put it in your room.

And mom and the aunt were in the back,

cleaning up everything there for the end of the night.

And dad was just stocking the shelves.

Jessica: As we are about to close the store,

these two guys come in.

One of the men heads straight

to the back of the store.

Jessica: I'm thinking he's just a customer

that's about to order a sandwich,

because my aunt and my mom are back there.

The other man approaches Jessica

and her sister at the cash register.

Jessica: The guy that's in the cash register

pulls out a gun.

That's when I noticed,

okay, we're getting robbed.

He forces my sister on the floor.

Get down!

No!

Jessica: When she screams, my dad comes to the front.

Wait!

Jessica: And he yells, "please, stop."

As porfirio: Stop! Please, stop!

Like many store owners, porfirio is

armed with a handgun for self protection,

but he never reaches for it.

And this is all happening,

I mean, seconds.

It's going really fast.

Suddenly, the gunman shoots porfirio

in the chest.

The other gunman shoots Jessica's mother, juana,

several times in the chest and face,

and aunt Lina in the back and neck.

The shooting starts going crazy in the back.

My dad is trying to save them.

He's down, he's incapacitated from his injuries.

He can't move.

Then, the gunman turns his weapon back on porfirio.

Next, both gunmen focus their attention

on Jessica, who stands frozen by the cash register.

Jessica: At that point, I'm not screaming.

I'm not doing anything.

I'm just...

Just breathing.

What you waiting for, an invitation?

Hand me that.

Jessica: So now I have a gun on my forehead,

and then I have one on my waist.

So I have two guns now.

And I said to the guy in front of me, I said,

"please don't kill me."

We gotta go, man. Speed this up!

I said, "do you want a bag

to put in the money?"

And he says, "yes."

I gave him the bag, and they left.

We out.

And my sister, the entire time, was on the floor.

She has no idea what's going on.

She thought they were shooting cans all around

the store,

and so I said to her, "no, they killed them."

Please be advised we have

reports of a 1054.

Zalot: I was working as a night police reporter.

We would sit in the newsroom and listen to police radio.

I heard this call come out

for a triple homicide at this location.

So as soon as I heard that, I drove over to

west Philadelphia.

The gunmen walk away with about $700.

Not a very significant amount of money for

killing three people.

I just remember this feeling of just

shock and dread that descended over this area.

People love the nunezes, so people just...

Just didn't know how to react.

Vega: From the moment they come in to come out

is 57 seconds.

They destroyed an entire family,

took away three lives, in 57 seconds.

Not even a minute.

Hagan: When the first responders came in,

they found Mr. Nunez along the refrigerator section

in one of the aisles,

and then, when they got to the back of the store,

behind the sandwich counter they found

the, aunt and the mother.

Most of our cases are one individual gettin' killed.

We may have a double every once in a while.

It's rare that we'll have three homicide in one place.

And attributed to a robbery.

Zalot: It's just like, why, like, nobody can understand

why this happened the way it happened.

In the hours following the triple murder

of the Nunez family,

homicide detectives process the crime scene.

Hagan: When me and my supervisor arrived on the scene,

no one was in the store, because we didn't want

to disturb the evidence.

There were nine-millimeter casings recovered,

what we call ay the fcc, a fire cartridge casing.

You noticed one soon as you walk in the front door,

which we believe that might have been the first shot fired.

And there were several in

the back where the two women were killed.

The crime scene unit photographed,

videotaped, sketched the scene, and collected the evidence,

and we collected anything from fingerprints

to DNA to blood samples.

We tried to get everything to encompass

all the evidence that we think

we would need to solve the crime.

Vega: The next step is what's called neighborhood surveys.

It's old-style detective work.

They knock on every door and say, "do you know anything?

"Did you see anything?

Tell me about this store."

Excuse me, I'm detective hagan...

Can you tell me what happened here tonight?

Anything you saw, anything you heard?

No, I just came over 'cause I seen the tape.

There was some cooperation from people in the community.

Of course, there was some people who didn't want

to cooperate.

Are you from the area?

-Yeah, live across the street. -Yes, we live across the street.

Vega: These people live in the neighborhood,

so if they know the killer, the killer knows them,

knows where they live, who their children are,

with their grandparents are.

They're praying the police or solve it,

but they can't step forward, because the reality is this --

people are threatened,

and people are killed.

Is there anybody else in the area I should speak with,

or...? -No, I'm sorry.

-I really don't know much. -No?

They'll even say up front,

I am not saying anything, because I don't want to die.

All right, well, I appreciate your time.

Thank you so much.

-Thank you. -All right.

At the homicide unit, surviving sisters,

Jessica and Laura, are waiting to give their statements.

Jessica: It was...

It was indescribable.

I mean, what we were going through was unbelievable.

Hagan: I met with Jessica.

I introduced myself and told her

I would be the assigned detective.

Jessica, I'm detective hagan.

I'm assigned to the incident that took place.

I can't tell you how sorry I am.

She just kind of sat there, emotionless.

Still in shock.

I understand it might be something that you don't want

to talk about at this moment,

but I'm gonna need to ask you

some questions.

His first questions, I guess,

is your regular first questions after a crime

like that, it's what happened, you know,

how did it happen, where were you?

If I recognize the guys, if I've seen them before.

Jessica, did you get a good enough look

at these two

to tell me what they look like,

maybe what they were wearing?

They were both black.

One was 5'8", 160 pounds.

He was the one who asked for the money.

She described the first shooter as a shorter male, dark skin,

a little on the husky side.

The other guy was taller.

Would you be able to pick them out of a lineup

if I showed you some pictures?

Think you would be able to recognize 'em?

I will never forget their faces.

Jessica: All I kept thinking is, like, there has to be a way

where it -- by me describing certain things,

they could just go and find them.

And then when you realize how many people fit

that description,

you're like, wow, that's -- that's a lot of people.

Detectives explore possible

motives for the murders,

even ones that seem dubious.

Hagan: One theory was Mr. Nunez was part of

some kind of Dominican drug gang,

and they came in to Rob store because, you know, he was

dealing in drugs and he had what they consider weight, you know,

a large amount of drugs in the store, so we kind of

investigated everything to make sure that, you know, there was

no illegal activity, even went to a prison to interview one

of the guys from the neighborhood

that was supposed to be a well-known drug dealer

in the neighborhood.

So Mr. Nunez is clean.

And the store is legit.

Hagan: He said, point blank,

Mr. Nunez was not a drug dealer.

He was a family man, and that was a business.

And this is coming from somebody who was known to

sell large amount of drugs in the neighborhood

and was in federal custody at the time.

Although physical evidence was

collected from the crime scene,

it turns out to be a dead end.

Unfortunately, the fingerprints didn't lead

to anything substantial at that time.

The only DNA that was collected would

have been most likely from the victims.

We didn't find any other

possible DNA from possible suspects.

We ran gun checks on every gun

that was confiscated in Philadelphia

that was a nine-millimeter.

I had a weekly report coming from our firearms

identification unit when every nine-millimeter

was confiscated in the city, and we were not able

to find a match on anything.

Then there's a lucky break.

Detectives track down surveillance video from

a Chinese restaurant across the street from Lorena's.

It was video that depicted two individuals arriving

to do the robbery and then after the robbery, they flee

the same way they came.

Poor quality.

You can barely make out faces.

Gaul: You can't really make a physical,

facial identification out of it.

It's not clear enough to where I could see the guy's face.

But as you watch, I'm going back and forth,

you can see his mannerisms, the way he's walking,

the way he's carrying himself,

you just don't know his face.

You could still see the guy's watch as he's leaving.

The face of it was -- was thick and significant.

The video can't provide

a visual identification on the gunmen,

but it does offer a potential lead.

White Van.

Hagan: When we looked at the video,

we noticed the Van was circling the block around

the time of the murders.

So we thought it was like a getaway Van.

See this --

is that writing on the side?

And the Van had a inscription on the side of it

we couldn't quite make it out through the video.

So we wanted to find out where is this Van,

who owns this Van, who was in this Van?

I mean, we couldn't say for certain this is part of it,

but we weren't gonna exclude it.

We wanted to find those people.

Woman: Philadelphia police hope that this surveillance video

will help them catch two killers,

investigators think the two...

Hagan: Somebody actually saw it on the news,

and it wound up being the guy who owned the Van,

and he called, made arrangements for comin' in.

He brought the Van in, we took pictures of the Van,

and he was cleared by investigation

after he said, "I was just picking up junk."

From that point on, we went by any tips that we gained.

-Have a seat, sir. -Thanks.

One tip in particular seems to

hold promise.

So what information do you have for me today?

Well, I saw this Pontiac grand am parked in the neighborhood,

it was black, and there was some Jersey tags on the car.

A witness comes forward and says that they live near Lorena's,

and the night of the homicide,

they came home, and they noticed a black

Pontiac grand am parked in the area that had Jersey tags,

and that was an unusual vehicle for these blocks.

Was this car occupied, was somebody in it?

Or was -- it was just sitting there empty?

Yeah, it was just empty.

Then I heard the gunshots go off, and I saw these two men run

down the middle of the street and hop into the car,

and then it pulled off.

The neighbor believed he saw them getting in the Pontiac,

but we're not sure if it's the same males that came out

of the store.

He just saw two males getting

in the Pontiac after he heard gunshots.

As soon as I heard the gunshots,

I saw those two guys run into their car.

Shortly after, okay.

-Seemed a little suspicious, -okay.

So I feel like they must be involved in it or something.

You have to be careful, because some people

like to embellish on the story.

I mean, we did investigate it,

but we didn't find any credibility to this story.

Thank you so much. This is helpful information.

-Glad I could help. -I appreciate you coming in.

-No, problem. Thanks for having me. -Good job.

To a certain point, it gets frustrating when

you're just looking for a shot in the dark.

You don't know exactly what you're looking for,

but hoping that one person who might have saw something

calls you and says, "listen,

this is a person we're looking for."

Shortly after the tragic murders,

Jessica is walking down a street not far from Lorena's.

I remember it was about two o'clock in the afternoon,

I mean, kids were coming out of school.

And I see a guy riding the bike from the other block

behind me with a hoodie on.

I could swear that was the guy that was with US

in the cash register.

He's looking, but he's trying to figure my face out,

like, you can see him riding very slow.

And so he has both hands on the bike,

and when he sees me standing there,

he puts one of his hands inside.

That's when I thought, "I'm dead.

This is it."

And so he looks, but he sees that I can't see his full face.

He just takes off.

And I called the police right away.

I said, "listen,

I could swear that was him."

We tried to track down the guy

on the bike and never could locate him.

And we never validated

whether it was the same male or not that robbed the store.

Jessica wanted to find these guys in the worst way

for taking her family away from her.

September 14, 2011, 8 days

after losing the people closest to her,

Jessica Nunez and her sister, Laura, are starting to face

the grim reality of a new life scarred by loss.

We took the bodies, and we buried them

in the Dominican Republic.

My mom's family is still there.

During the funeral days,

you see so many people around you,

you don't have the time to think, you're too busy.

But I was going through so much.

I mean, no sleeping, no eating,

and, of course, having nightmares every day.

You couldn't close your eyes because

you're thinking you're at the store.

Literally, I thought I was gonna go crazy.

It was a difficult time.

I never saw it, like, that violence coming towards US.

I never, never in my life thought that was gonna happen

to US.

I made that promise to my parents

to find the people that killed them.

Like, if the police is working, I'm working, too.

After that, I decided, you know what?

I'm gonna start working in all the stores around

the neighborhood or the area until I find him.

She worked at seven different

grocery stores in the surrounding area.

Jessica: I decided I'm just going undercover on my own.

I would change my looks

probably every 2 to 3 weeks, I will dye my hair

blonde to red to black.

I went through so many different haircuts.

I was hiding it from my family.

I was hiding it from my sister.

I didn't want her to worry about it.

They were not happy that I was working at a store,

but they didn't know my motives.

I never wanted to tell them I'm doing this,

because I'm sure they were gonna stop me

and tell me, "let the police

just do their job."

Hagan: I kept in touch with her just about every other day,

and she was just relentless in trying to get these guys

locked up,

and she was willing to do anything it took.

Jessica: I didn't care if I was gonna die in the streets.

I knew my risks,

and I knew what I was, you know,

getting myself into.

If she ran into the person that killed her parents

and her aunt, she probably would have fought him.

Meanwhile, detectives continue to field tips,

hoping one will yield the break they're looking for.

This is detective hagan.

Hagan: There was one tip involving a guy.

He fit the description of the second male,

who was a taller male.

Are you sure?

What's the man's name?

His nickname was black.

Black was known in the neighborhood to

do robberies,

sell drugs, carry a gun all the time,

and he had just got out of prison.

So that kind of piqued our interest also,

maybe I'm looking for some quick money.

Through investigation, we found out he wasn't even

in the area at the time of the murders.

You get your hopes up,

you think you're gonna get a good lead to get to the bottom

of the story,

and then it's very frustrating, because it just got

to a point where we ran out of leads.

I think that the detectives were feeling pretty

exasperated by the fact

that they just couldn't get much on this case.

These guys were still on the loose,

and they were clearly incredibly dangerous

and ruthless.

People were afraid -- it felt very likely

that they were gonna strike again.

Vega: If they did that once, they'll do it again.

They don't care. These guys have to be caught.

On Thursday, January 19, 2012,

a little more than four months after the Nunez murders,

Philadelphia p.D. Homicide captain James Clark sets up

a task force headed by homicide veteran Bob Wilkins.

Wilkins: Captain called me in the office,

asked me would I like to be a supervisor for the task force.

The assigned detective at that time,

he was investigating,

but he was starting to run out of leads.

Gaul: That's where we came in.

Captain made a decision just to

get a fresh set of eyes to look at the case.

We started the investigation from scratch,

and we left no stones unturned, we were everywhere.

We'd look at the neighborhood, we want to

get a pulse of what's going on out there.

We're bringing in uniforms from that district,

people that work that area, are from that area,

see what they're hearing on the street,

let US know, we'll start interviewing people

that we know associates with the criminal element.

We'll talk to the drug dealers, we'll talk to the drug users.

We'll start bringing them in,

and we'll just start talking.

Somebody has to know something or somebody's seen something.

A few months after she sees the man on the bicycle,

Jessica is working the cash register at the haver deli

when she thinks she sees the man again.

Jessica: I was working in a bigger store this time,

and there was cameras everywhere.

I saw a guy that looked just like one of them,

the same guy that I

could swear passed by on the bike.

The way he looked at me and how he was walking,

just the entire moment that he was at the store,

I'm freaking out because again, I'm thinking these people

are looking for me to kill me.

Jessica calls detectives and, in a panic,

rushes to the back of the store.

It is just so many things going through my body

at that moment.

I remember having a breakdown.

I couldn't even breathe. I couldn't even breathe.

I felt, like, dizzy.

It was really bad.

Immediately, I dispatched uniform out to the location.

When we get to the store, that individual's not in the store

anymore, and it comes out, this is not the guy.

After four months, the Nunez murder

investigation is still at square one.

But on Tuesday, January 31st, when two

detectives run into each other outside of court,

they make an important connection.

-Joe! -Tom.

How are ya?

Gaul: Detective Murray was assigned

to special investigations

within southwest detectives specializing in robberies.

Very good reputation as far as,

a thorough investigator, a dogged investigator.

Just a good detective.

Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you.

I've been reassigned a case, and I wanted your input,

the Nunez groceries.

I'm like, "listen, it'll save me a phone call.

"I'm glad I ran into you -- I'm being re-assigned a case,

"and I was gonna reach out to you about it.

It's the Nunez grocery."

Nunez, yeah.

You ought to take a closer look at that

a&a grocery armed robbery on gratz street.

There's another one on reedland.

-Really? -Looks a lot like

your Nunez case.

Detective Murray tells Gaul

he thinks it's possible that the same men who

committed two recent armed robberies could also

be responsible for the Nunez triple murders.

All right, thanks. I'm gonna follow up,

all right? I'll call you soon.

-Sounds good. -Cool. Thank you, man.

The other two robberies are the exact same method

of operation, you know, two guys come in.

One guy goes to the front where the cash box is,

and one guy goes to the back and they keep

an eye on the store.

The task force is able to acquire surveillance

footage from one of those grocery stores.

It looked like a prime video, like, it was really good,

and you could see the one offender in

the rear of the store as the robbery is committed.

You see his gun, you see the watch.

It's really, really specific.

It was observed that one of the males

in the video had the same clothing on as the Nunez store,

which really brought our attention to him.

Gaul: So we released that video to the press just saying, look,

we're looking for help for this robbery.

Once we do that, some tips are coming in.

On February 7, 2012,

someone calls and says he recognizes one of the men.

Are you serious?

Let's get him in here right away!

At one point, my detective comes to me

and says, "this guy may be able to I.D.

On the photo."

Okay.

He Gaul, we got somebody who can I.D. The killer.

-Really? Brilliant. -Got him.

When we get that information,

everything stops, I mean, we just

stopped dead in our tracks.

We get this individual in, now we're listening to this guy

tell US what he knows.

So how do you know this guy?

I recognized the picture on TV.

I used to hang out with the guy around Philly.

I see him at parties on the corner.

I knew the same people he knew.

What's his name?

It's Ibrahim Muhammed.

Ibrahim Muhammed.

Wilkins: He gives US a name, Ibrahim Muhammed.

We put that in our database.

And sure enough, he pops out.

Is this the man you're talking about?

That's Ibrahim Muhammed.

I swear to god that's him.

We get a photo of him, we go show the guy.

He says, "that's the guy I'm talking about."

He's a drug dealer.

He was selling drugs in the area

of 62nd and reedland.

31-year-old Ibrahim Muhammed has been in

and out of jail for theft and felony drug charges.

Now we have a person of interest.

We know who we're looking for.

At this point in the investigation,

we have a meeting with narcotics.

We showed 'em the photo,

we tell them this is our person of interest

on the triple homicide.

They take off running.

In hopes of catching Ibrahim Muhammed,

the narcotics unit carries out a drug bust

on the 6200 block of reedland street,

and, in a stroke of luck, five months after the brutal

murder of the Nunez family,

detectives arrest Ibrahim Muhammed,

one of the suspected killers.

They get him selling.

They arrest him at that point,

and when he arrives at homicide,

we place him in one of our interview rooms.

Detective Gaul is eerily reminded of the robbery video.

Gaul: He walks him in.

I'm watching his physical characteristics, seeing

type of gait,

you know, saying type physical description, angular face.

And the watch was very significant.

It was almost, like, emblazoned in my brain,

you know what I mean? From watching the video so much.

Listen, my friend, I'm on your side.

I just need to ask you

some questions about the Nunez triple murder

that happened this past September.

One of my tactics was when

I went in was just friendly conversation.

I didn't want him to feel under pressure.

I didn't want him to feel like we was bullying him.

It wasn't me. It wasn't me.

I don't know what you guys are talking about.

I didn't do it.

Look, the only thing that's gonna save you right now

is telling US exactly what happened and exactly what

you did.

I said, "look, you've been waiting for this knock

on your door since September 7th of 2011."

I said, "here we are in the middle

of February, and the knock on the door came."

I'm trying to explain to him, listen, they have you,

they know it's you.

They got you on video.

Okay, okay.

It was supposed to just be a robbery.

I was never gonna shoot anyone.

But the guy, he had a gun.

Wilkins: They targeted bodega stores.

Usually they would come in, produce the gun,

people would give over the cash,

and the guys would just leave.

But they panicked.

Everything is a blur.

Soon as I got to the back,

I shot the woman.

And I saw the guy on the floor,

I saw him trying to get back up, and I shot him dead.

Gaul: He described how he shot all three.

So now we have enough to

arrest and charge Ibrahim Muhammed for all three

just based on his confession.

If he had done just a regular robbery

and walked out and left that family intact,

he wouldn't have got the heavy hammer that homicide

went after him.

When you kill someone, you've now joined

the big leagues, because we don't let that go.

When we heard that there was an arrest finally made,

it was just relief.

There was palpable relief across the city.

It was like, "thank god."

Ibrahim Muhammed wastes no time in naming

the other gunman.

Who was your accomplice?

His name's Malik.

-And Malik's last name? -Scott.

I think that his motive to give the Malik Scott

was he was hoping that

that would turn into a bargaining chip.

His main concern was the death penalty.

That guy felt no remorse.

Two days later, on Saturday, February 11, 2012

30-year-old Malik Scott is apprehended by law enforcement.

Malik also has a long rap sheet of prior convictions.

Gaul: Even though we have enough to arrest Malik Scott

and Ibrahim Muhammed based on his confession,

everybody wants to have a successful trial.

Now the next game plan is we're gonna show identification,

arrays, you know, photo arrays to the witnesses.

Hi, Jessica, it's detective Gaul.

Yes, we've got something.

They called me and they told me

that they needed to come over, it's early in the morning,

I'm like, "my gosh."

I was in shock.

It's just over five months since Jessica Nunez

and her sister watched their mother,

father, and aunt's execution during an armed robbery at

the family's grocery store.

Jessica is anxiously awaiting

a meeting with detective Gaul and Wilkins.

Jessica: I had a feeling that it was something good,

whether they got one of the guys

or I thought they got, like, the gun or something.

Now, Jessica, I've got a couple of photos to show you,

okay?

Can you tell me if you recognize either of

these two men?

My god.

As soon as I saw the pictures, I knew who they were.

That's them.

These are the people who killed my family.

Wilkins: Grown men don't cry,

but you could see wet eyes, you know, as we're talking,,

because that's how you felt just looking at her.

It's okay. It's okay.

Your parents would be proud.

Once we got the identifications,

we have enough to charge Malik Scott

and Ibrahim Muhammed.

Detectives can finally piece together what happened

to the Nunez family on September 6, 2011.

It's porfirio Nunez's birthday,

and the family is getting ready to close up a little bit

early for the night so that

they can go be together and celebrate his birthday.

I don't think that these guys went in there to kill

the nunezes.

I think they went in there to Rob the place.

The other two robberies, even though they didn't

end in death, they were still that violent-type,

intimidating nature right from the juncture.

They definitely had it pre-planned.

They hit 'em right before they were closing,

and they went in there almost like a tactical team.

Malik always goes to the counter, that's his thing.

He's the counter guy getting the money.

Then the second gunman, he's the one that always

goes to the back, and Muhammed is

the violent guy.

He likes being out there giving the orders.

Hurry up!

We gotta go, man. Speed this up.

Get down!

No!

Malik grabs Laura. She screams.

No!

Jessica freezes -- the guy has a gun.

Dad, when he hears

his daughter scream, turns, runs to the counter,

as he's running there, he's saying... wait!

"Wait, wait, wait!"

Wait! Wait!

Gaul: And it's Malik that, once he sees

the threat of Mr. Nunez with the gun,

he shoots him.

Vega: He didn't deserve to get shot.

He was trying to protect his girls.

At that moment, he wasn't protecting a store.

He was protecting his little girl.

Now Muhammed goes and sees the two women

that obviously see him the most.

Gaul: He kills both of them,

comes back,

sees Mr. Nunez still moving around.

Shoots and kills him.

Vega: It happened so quickly, they didn't see it coming.

They didn't expect it.

This was the devastation of a family, killing

good people and then killing unarmed women.

It's one of the most horrific, if not the horrific case,

I've ever -- I've ever been involved in.

And, I've been involved in a few.

What you waiting for, an invitation?

Speed this up!

Hurry up!

We out, bro.

Detectives will never know why the gunmen spared

Jessica and Laura's lives.

Hagan: They're blessed to be alive.

We don't know why the guys didn't kill 'em.

We have no idea.

Some guys would have killed everybody in the store,

so there were no witnesses left -- for them two

to be alive, it's a miracle.

My family had a grocery store just like theirs,

and all of US worked in it just like they did.

Our store had been burglarized, had been robbed

at gunpoint,

knifepoint -- I would pray that they wouldn't be killed.

My mother, father, sister,

grandmother -- I'm glad I had the case, because what I feared

the most, those girls lived.

So it was very personal saying that these girls need me.

On December 6, 2016,

5 years after the triple slaying

at Lorena's that shook Philadelphia,

the case finally goes to trial.

I'm so nervous now, because yeah, we got them.

But are we gonna get justice?

Are they gonna walk out within a year or two and then come

back and probably kill the little girl that put them

in jail?

I was going through so much mentally

thinking that that was gonna happen.

I remember sitting in the courtroom.

We were holding hands.

Once they had a verdict, I remember my family praying.

On December 21, 2016, Ibrahim Muhammed

and Malik Scott are found guilty of first-degree murder

in the 2011 deaths

of porfirio Nunez, juana Nunez, and Lina Sanchez.

Vega: The jury came back in an hour, guilty.

They didn't even ask for a single picture exhibit,

they just ordered lunch and convicted them like that.

I started crying.

My sister started crying.

You feel peace.

But then you realize that no matter -- no matter how many

years they get in jail,

you're still not gonna get them back.

And you still have to understand that you're not

gonna have your dad walkin' you

down the aisle or, you know, call your mom if

something is wrong.

You still have to realize those things.

Vega: We got the guys, and what little solace it

gives them saying these guys were brought to justice,

they didn't get away with it,

you know, my parents are dead, but guess what?

You got caught. You got convicted.

I know that the family, the survivors,

didn't want them to face the death penalty,

because it was against their beliefs.

So this was the best thing that prosecutors

in the city could do for them was to

make sure that these men have no possibility of parole.

They're never gonna be back on the street.

They're never gonna

see the light of day outside of

a prison ever again to terrorize another family.

Jessica took over the role of her mom and dad.

She took care of her younger sister and her younger brother.

She became spokesperson for the family.

Just resilience is the word I can think of

when I think of Jessica.

If I thought I was so weak and I didn't think

I was like this strong girl,

then my dad would tell me I was,

or -- or "you can do everything you want,"

and "you can do anything if you put yourself into it."

Took me a few years, um, to understand that,

yeah, I am strong.

I survived, and I learned to move on.

And Jessica finds a way to honor

her family by doing what she loves most.

Jessica: The music was my connection with my dad.

He likes to sing and act, and I had the same personality.

In July 2019, Jessica was selected to compete

on "reina de la cancion," the Spanish version

of "the voice."

I remember the first time when I did my audition,

I literally felt like they were walking with me on stage.

I was filled with so much happiness and peace

at the same time.

And so I will always say something to them.

Be like, "listen,

"your little crazy girl's about two something,

so just rock with me."