Delivery driver on scooter found shot dead near Catholic University in Washington DC – NBC4 Washington

A man who worked as a meal delivery driver to support his seven children and send money home to Venezuela was found shot to death Monday night near the campus of The Catholic University of America in northeast Washington, D.C.

Ruben Muñoz-Romero, of Takoma Park, Maryland, was the victim, police said. He was 38.

Muñoz-Romero worked day and night to support his family, his brother, Samuel Muñoz, told News4 affiliate Telemundo 44.

“A hardworking man. A man who worked so he could send money to his family, to his mother, to all his loved ones,” he said in Spanish.

Muñoz-Romero was seen falling from a moped in the 400 block of Michigan Avenue NE, just blocks from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. D.C. police arrived around 7:55 p.m. to find Muñoz-Romero had been shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to the preliminary investigation, police believe Muñoz-Romero was shot somewhere other than “in the immediate vicinity of the Catholic University campus” and then rode to the scene of his death on a moped.

Muñoz-Romero’s brother said he was shocked by the crime and that seven children had just been orphaned.

Muñoz-Romero moved to the U.S. about two years ago and had been working as a food delivery driver there for only a few months, his brother said. The victim had hoped the U.S. would be safer than Venezuela.

An investigation is ongoing. It is still unclear who shot Muñoz-Romero, where and why.

‘Pray with me’

The Catholic University was forced to remain closed for about an hour after Muñoz-Romero was killed.

University President Peter Kilpatrick asked the campus community to pray for Muñoz-Romero.

“Please join me in praying for the soul of the victim who lost his life, and offer our prayers and sincere condolences to his friends and family,” he wrote in a letter.

Kilpatrick said he is confident that Muñoz-Romero had no ties to the university.

The university’s president has previously advised students about crimes in the area. Earlier this year, a 14-year-old high school student was shot and killed on the platform of the Brookland-CUA subway station. Last summer, a teacher working in Washington, D.C., was shot and killed on campus after telling his mother that someone was holding him at gunpoint and robbing him.

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Anyone with potentially relevant information about Muñoz-Romero’s murder is asked to contact police. A reward of up to $25,000 is available for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Stay tuned to this story via NBC Washington.