A candlelight vigil was held Sunday night for a "beautiful, bubbly" mother of two who was hit by a car and left to die in the street after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in Bellflower.
Family and friends held hands and prayed as they remembered 30-year-old Makeda More, a mother of a 2-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter.
"Nobody deserves," said the victim's father, Kevin More, "You think it will never happen to you, I'm here today to tell you it can."
The family is asking the driver to come forward.
"We are a faith family, and we forgive and God forgives as well. So he has nothing to fear, just let us know what happened, that's it," said Cynthia McLaurin, the victim's aunt.
The driver was near Lakewood Boulevard and Los Angeles Street Saturday before 10 p.m. when the car struck the woman, who was later found unconscious in the road, according to the LA County Sheriff's Department.
More was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Leslie McNutt, the mother of More's boyfriend, said More was "just going across the street to get something to drink for the babies."
"Her kids were her life, her kids were everything," McNutt said. "I'm going to miss her."
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McNutt said she got a call Saturday night that More had been hit by a car. She said More was like a daughter to her.
"A beautiful, bubbly person, that's what she was and they took that from us," McNutt said. "They took that from her family. We will never see her again, never see her smile."
Bellflower resident Marie Franklin said she is a nurse who lives in the same apartment complex as More.
"I approached (her) body, she was laying flat on her back," Franklin said. "She was not responsive."
Franklin said she believes Lakewood Boulevard is a dangerous road where drivers often speed, but many people cross without going to a crosswalk because it's quicker. She said More's death is a learning lesson for her.
"What we saw last night, it's heartbreaking," Franklin said.
Authorities on Sunday were still searching for the driver, whom they believe was in a dark-colored Nissan that now has substantial collision damage to the front bumper and windshield.
"This person who did this, come forward, turn (themselves), in because we want justice for her," McNutt said. "I need the person whoever did this, man or woman, come forward."
Additional details were not released.
NBC4's Kate Larsen contributed to this report.
