A popular fitness influencer and her date were gunned down by her jealous estranged husband — who was then fatally shot by an off-duty cop in California, according to police and her family.
Gloria Zamora, a mother of seven who boasted over 150,000 followers on Instagram, was killed late Saturday along with her date, father of four Hector Garduno, in the parking lot of a sushi restaurant in Fontana — leaving behind 11 children between them.
They were shot by Zamora’s second husband, Thomas Alberto Tamayo Lizarraga, just days after the 40-year-old fitness influencer told listeners on her podcast, “HERizon,” that she was leaving him.
“They were going through a divorce, that led to this,” Officer Steve Reed with the Fontana Police Department told ABC 7 of the double slaying.
“We don’t know how he knew where she was at, but apparently, she had been at the restaurant for approximately an hour prior to the shooting,” Reed said.
Several off-duty law enforcement officers happened to be in the area when the gunfire erupted, including one off-duty San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy who was driving by the shopping center and witnessed the shooting, according to Reed.
The deputy “made a U-turn at the light, and got out of his vehicle, and confronted the suspect,” Reed said.
Lizarraga was shot and killed by the deputy, whose name has not been released.
An online fundraiser said Zamora “leaves behind 7 beautiful children, ages 8 to 24, who are now facing a future without our mother’s warmth, guidance, and unconditional love.”
“My mom was senselessly taken from us, she was murdered by my stepdad Tomas, in an act of unimaginable violence,” wrote one of her daughters, Jazlynne Zamora.
Jazlynne described her mother as “a light in her community” who “uplifted and inspired countless women.”
“She always said, ‘Women can do anything they set their minds to,’ and she lived those words every day,” she wrote.
Garduno’s children have also launched a GoFundMe, where they said the loving dad was a “devoted and hardworking man that was tragically murdered and gone too soon.”
Fontana police said the investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
