Ice Cream Man Gunned Down

Elidia Atilus is still trying to come to grips her father won't be walking through the front door anymore.

"My father sells ice cream. Everybody loved him," she said.

Grieving family members say 32 year-old Fresnel Atilus was gunned down on the streets of Lake Park. They say he was trying to support his pregnant wife and six children by selling ice cream from the truck with his name. When asked by CBS 12 Newswhy anyone would shoot her father, Atilus replied: "I don't know, I don't know"

The shooting happened around 7:20 pm Wednesday night on the 800 block of Foresteria Drive. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office says three young men in their mid-to-late teens flagged down the truck. At least one of them shot Atilus several times.

"This appears to be a robbery, but we don't know what, if anything, was taken from the truck," said Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Spokesman Sgt. Pete Palenzuela.

Relatives tell us the Haitian-American man had been selling ice cream, chicken wings and hot dogs in the makeshift truck for eight months. A cousin tells CBS 12 Newsthat Atilus had been robbed twice.

Investigators confirm the latest incident on November 7th when two men approached the truck, pointed a gun, but Atilus managed to get away unharmed. They don't know if the cases are connected. "I don't see a reason why they would rob him. If they wanted ice cream he would give it to them," said the victim's cousin, Wesley Atilus.

PBSO says the getaway car is a four-door, blue or teal Buick Roadmaster, with a broken amber directional light.

Anyone with information is asked to call Palm Beach County CrimeStoppers at 1-800-458-TIPS.