A California woman celebrating her anniversary in Mexico City was killed when she was struck by a stray bullet.
Tatiana Mirutenko, 27, of San Francisco, California, was shot and killed while leaving a popular restaurant with her husband and several of their friends in Lomas de Chapultepec, an upscale neighborhood in Mexico City, on Saturday, July, 7, local station ABC 7 reports.
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“We can confirm that U.S. Citizen Tatiana Mirutenko was killed in Mexico City on July 7. We extend our sincere condolences to friends and family members of the deceased. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City is providing all appropriate consular services to her family. Out of respect for the family during this difficult time, we have no further comment,” an official with the U.S. Bureau of Consular Affairs confirmed Mirutenko’s death.
Just two days before departing on the trip, Mirutenko, a senior investor relations analyst at Nektar Therapeutics who had graduated from Clemson University in 2013, had shared photo of herself and her husband, James Hoover, on their wedding day.
Mirutenko and Hoover had traveled to Mexico City with three other couples to celebrate their first anniversary together and had planned to visit as many Michelin star restaurants as they could. In the days before her death, she had told her mother how safe she felt in the city.
“She was telling me how wonderful, how safe it was,” Mirutenko’s mother, Natalie Mirutenko, said. “She would give 200 percent,” she continued. “As a mother, we always say things, but she inspired me to be better. I’d give my life if she could just come back.”
“A year ago, we were selecting flowers for the wedding,” Wasyl Mirutenko, her father, told the station. “Today we were looking at flowers for the funeral.”
According to officials, Mirutenko had been leaving a taco stand when a gunman on a motorcycle drove by and fired several rounds, one of which struck the 27-year-old in the head. It is believed that the intended target had been a bouncer at a nearby bar, who was also injured in the shooting but survived.
Although certain areas in Mexico have been deemed unsafe for travel, and the State Department currently lists Mexico City as a Level 2 advisory of “exercise increased caution” due to crime, Lomas de Chapultepec, a wealthy neighborhood within the capital city, is considered relatively safe for tourists.
Mirutenko’s body was flown back to the United States on Wednesday. Her funeral is scheduled for Saturday.
