Sarwat Syed's lawyer says she hasn't been able to live in her own home, hasn't had time to grieve for her son, let alone bury him.
On Monday, she was in court facing one count of felony hit and run for a crash that happened in 2011. The 43-year old mother is accused of seriously injuring three people when their car slid off the freeway and into a concrete culvert.
Prosecutors say Syed failed to stop.
Robert O'Connor's 4-year-old daughter Ava suffered a broken nose and jaw in the crash. She spent 27 days in the hospital. He has been waiting since June of 2011 for Syed's case to go to trial.
Then last week her son, Ali, allegedly went on an early morning shooting rampage. Police say the 20-year-old college student killed three people then committed suicide.
The shooting ended one mile from where Robert O'Connor lives. He initially feared that Ali Syed was coming after him.
"I definitely raced home from work, and got here and protected my family, and made sure they were secure," O'Connor said. "Once the information started to come out that he apparently killed himself, not too far away, and that he was the shooter, at least we knew that we were safe."
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O'Connor hopes it was a bizarre coincidence.
Syed's attorney says the killings were devastating for them as well.
"I know we are all try to seek meaning. We try to connect the dots. We try to always find blame," said attorney Vincent LaBarbera. "This is just a sad, sad situation for everybody, and it's also sad for the Syeds."
