VICTIM OF NIGHTCLUB SHOOTING A MOM, 24
Greenacres woman, 24, shot to death inside nightclub early Sunday.
GREENACRES — Kassandra Morales was a “life-loving person,” with a zest for dancing, laughing and, especially, her two young children, friends and family said Monday.
Morales, of Greenacres, beamed for days recently after her 4-yearold son, Luis Sanchez Jr., made an all-star youth baseball team at Phipps Park in West Palm Beach.
The season was set to start in May and Morales, who served as a “team mom” at the park, couldn’t wait.
On Monday, Phipps Park sent an email blast to parents informing them with “extremely heavy hearts” that Morales, 24, was murdered early Sunday morning.
According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office, Morales was shot to death inside the La Isla del Encanto nightclub on Military Trail south of Forest Hill Boulevard just west of the Palm Springs border.
Three other people — including two security guards — were shot but have been released from a hospital, PBSO said.
Luis Sanchez, Morales’ fiance, was with Morales at the time of the shooting but was not injured.
Morales and Sanchez, who have dated since they were teenagers, are the parents of two children — Luis Jr., 4, and Javien, 3. WANT TO HELP?
To contribute to the GoFundMe account for Kassandra Morales, go to www.gofundme.com/inmemory-of-kassandra-morales
PBSO said little about the shooting either Sunday or Monday and had given no suspect information or description more than 36 hours after Morales was killed.
Marissa Espino said she had been with Morales and other friends earlier in the evening but declined an invitation to go out. At 2:50 a.m., Espino said Morales sent a group message asking a few girlfriends to join her and Sanchez at La Isla del Encanto.
At about 5:30 a.m., Espino got
another call saying that Morales was dead.
“My heart just dropped,” Espino said. Yani Pena, the longtime girlfriend of Luis Sanchez’s brother, refers to Morales as her sister-in-law. Pena said Morales was the most “selfless” person she has ever met and that the manner of her death is “what makes this so horrible.”
“There are people that come into your life that you know have touched you, but you don’t realize the impact they’ve left,” Pena said. “Our lives will never be the same. It’s just so difficult.”
Morales was born in Miami and attended Lake Worth High School. She worked as a supervisor for a cleaning company, according to family.
There was nothing more that Morales enjoyed than being together with family, so those closest to her were already planning for her 25th birthday in June.
“Now we’re planning for her funeral,” Pena said Monday. “It’s devastating.”
The homicide is Palm Beach County’s 27th of the year, and the 18th involving a shooting, according to a Palm Beach Post database.
A GoFundMe account has been set up by family members in Morales’ name and had raised more than $5,000 by Monday afternoon.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the sheriff ’s office at 561-688-4003 or Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at 800-458-TIPS (8477). Callers to Crime Stoppers can be anonymous.