Family mourns murdered tree trimmer

LAKE WORTH-He was just doing his job as a tree trimmer when he was gunned down by would-be robbers. The victim's bewildered family is now mourning their loss.

"He loved his family," said 21-year old Wildad Vertus, describing her uncle, Fritznel Vertus, who died in Monday's attack in the Grammercy Park neighborhood, near West Palm Beach.

"It's hard," she said. "It's not easy, especially when you're used to talking to him or seeing him every day. And just knowing the fact that he didn't do anything. He was just simply working."

The Sheriff's Office says two men with semi-automatic handguns tried to rob the workers. Vertus died at the scene. A second tree trimmer, Mario Castellon, was also hit, and at last check, was in the hospital in critical condition.

Vertus leaves behind a 7-year old son, and his wife, Wadlemise. She is pregnant with the couple's second child, a girl who will never her father.

"She's taking it hard," said Alex Vertus, a nephew of the victim. "She's got a son and a little girl in her stomach. No father, no nothing. She's a single mother now."

Family members say Fritznel Vertus came to the United States from Haiti 12 years ago. Six months after arriving, he started working for Asplundh, the tree trimming company, and worked there since.

The Sheriff's Office just released sketches of what the suspects may look like. Both suspects are described as about five-foot, five inches tall, and in their late teens or early twenties. If you know anything about the case, you're asked to call Palm Beach County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-458-TIPS.

"Whoever did this," said Wildad Vertus, "it's in God's hands."