Funeral To Be Held This Week For 7-Year-Old Girl Killed In NJ Hit-And-Run

WEST NEW YORK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A funeral will be held this week for the little girl who was killed in a hit-and-run in West New York last Monday.

CBS2's Ilana Gold reports a visitation will be held today for 7-year-old Sheyla Pichardo. She was hit by a car while walking to school.

"I'm heartbroken. I lost my daughter. This is not an easy situation," Javier Pichardo, Sheyla's father, told CBS2.

Surveillance cameras captured a black SUV right before it slammed into Sheyla and her mother crossing the intersection of Van Buren Place and 61st Street.

Police told CBS2 the driver got out of his vehicle, looked at Sheyla's lifeless body on the ground and then sped away.

"How can you do that to a little girl like that and leave her behind? It's not human, it's animal," witness Barbara Acosta told CBS2.

Yemi Coria, Sheyla's mother, told CBS2 the driver said a curse words and left without apologizing. Coria said the driver had enough time to brake but didn't.

Police identified the driver as 23-year-old Fabian Rodriguez. Investigators told CBS2 that two hours after the hit-and-run, his wife, Johanna Rosas Alvarez, reported that the SUV was stolen, trying to cover up the crime.

Both are under arrest and pleaded not guilty in court.