A Chicago-area native was killed by a stray bullet while leaving a restaurant in Mexico on Saturday, just days into a trip with her husband to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.
Family members identified the woman as 27-year-old Tatiana Mirutenko, originally from suburban Hawthorn Woods.
She was leaving a restaurant with her husband and friends in the wealthy Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood of Mexico City when someone opened fire on a bouncer at a bar nearby, local authorities said.
Mirutenko and her husband were married on July 1, 2017, but didn't get to go on a honeymoon right away, her parents said. Their vacation to Mexico with three other couples was meant to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.
"We all miss her, we loved her so much," her father Wasyl Mirutenko said.
"A year ago, we were all worried about wedding flowers, now a year later, we went to order flowers for her funeral," he continued.
A graduate of Lake Forest Academy and Clemson University, Mirutenko was an avid volleyball player and had moved to San Francisco three years ago for a job opportunity.
"During their vacation in Mexico there were numerous texts back and forth, 'You have to come back here, we’ve got to show you all the places we visited, all the food we ate, all the restaurants we saw. Mom, this place is amazing,'" her mother Natalia Mirutenko said.
Now her family is left to grapple with their tragic loss.
"There’s not gonna be a day that goes by that we don’t think about her," her younger sister Roma Mirutenko said.
"What we want to do is celebrate her life," Wasyl Mirutenko said, adding that he hopes his daughter will never be forgotten.
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"Hug your children, your wife, your loved ones. Tell them you love them and that's just not today, that's every day," he added.
"Please do that. It’s so important," he continued, before breaking down in tears and embracing his wife and daughter.
A U.S. Bureau of Consular Affairs official confirmed Mirutenko's death in a statement.
"We extend our sincere condolences to friends and family members of the deceased," the statement read, adding that the U.S. embassy in Mexico City was providing services to her family.
No one is in custody in connection with the shooting, authorities said, and the search for the gunmen remained ongoing.
