Palmetto Ridge High School graduate found fatally shot in Miami, police say

A missing person investigation merged with a homicide investigation after a college student from Collier County was found shot to death in Miami over the weekend.

Miami police responding to reports of gunfire around 4:30 a.m. Saturday in the Little Havana neighborhood found a woman later identified as Priscilla Torres, 19, unresponsive and suffering from gunshot wounds.

First responders took Torres from where she was found, around Northwest 29th Avenue and 12th Street, to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, where she died. 

Miami homicide detectives didn't know Torres' identity when they found her. On Sunday they released a sketch asking for the public's help to identify her.

Also on Sunday, Miami Shores police published a missing person flyer of Torres. Her mother had reported her missing, according to Miami police.

On Monday, Miami police identified the woman found shot in Little Havana as Torres.

Torres, a Barry University freshman, lived in Collier County before attending the university. She graduated from Palmetto Ridge High School in 2017, according to a school yearbook. Torres was a goalie on the school's lacrosse team.

Barry University shared a statement about her death on Facebook, saying:

"Words fail to express the shock and deep sorrow that we, her Barry family, are experiencing. However, we cannot imagine the profound heartache and anguish her parents and family members are suffering. As we mourn the tragic death of our student, we offer sympathy, prayers and comfort to her family, friends, classmates, faculty and everyone who loved her and shared her young life."

The university said in the post it will offer grief counseling to students.

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