TikToker and mother describe attack by her ex-stepfather – NBC 6 South Florida

A South Florida social media influencer and her mother are processing the emotional and physical scars left by the alleged assault by the influencer's former stepfather.

“I just said, 'How sad that these are the last minutes of my life,'” Eixchel Berroteran, known as Eixchelb to her 4.3 million TikTok and 650,000 Instagram followers, told our sister station Telemundo 51 tearfully in Spanish. “I felt so sorry for my mother. I said, 'God, please.'”

Berroteran, originally from Venezuela, remembers the moment when 64-year-old Luis Damas, who had been married to her mother for 13 years, showed up unannounced at her Miami apartment with the intention of killing them both.

Damas has been separated from Berroteran's mother, Francys Damas, for eight months.

According to a police report, it was August 21 when Damas knocked on the door. His ex-wife had a friend visiting and told him she would call him later. But when the friend left a few hours later, Damas was standing in the hallway outside the apartment.

The suspect and his ex-wife began arguing, and Damas began yelling and asking where Berroteran was, saying “she was the reason they couldn't be together,” the report said.

Francys Damas said the suspect pushed her into the apartment, pulled out a gun and said he wanted to kill Berroteran, the report said.

Luis Damas went into a bedroom where Berroteran was and pointed the gun at her. She jumped out of bed and tried to hide under a mattress while Damas said, “I'm going to kill you” and fired one shot, but it missed Berroteran, the report said.

“He pointed the gun at me. I threw myself on the ground and screamed at him not to do anything,” recalls Berroteran, while her mother held her by the shoulders. “And within a few seconds I heard the shot, which, I am not exaggerating, was only inches away from me.”

According to authorities, Berroteran tried to hide under a mattress while Damas said, “I'm going to kill you” and fired a shot that missed her.

“Eixchel kept screaming: 'Help, help, help!' Both of us, very loudly. And he said: 'Shut up, shut up, because when the police come, it's over… I came here to die,'” said Francys Damas.

The mother describes how she struggled with her ex to defend her daughter while he accused Berroteran of being the reason for their separation.

“He grabbed her by the hair and threw her on the ground. I was sitting on top of him, so I have several bite marks on my stomach,” said Francys Damas, lifting her shirt to show the bruises. “I ask the authorities not to let this go unpunished, to use the full force of the law here, because we are talking about it, but there are many women who were not able to do so.”

Francys Damas begged her ex-husband to calm down and he began to calm down, but continued to hold Berroteran by his hair and slid the gun under his thigh while he sat on a couch, the police report said.

The suspect allegedly agreed to sit down and talk about the incident, then demanded that Francys Damas help him clean up the crime scene in the apartment. According to authorities, he had her sweep and mop the floors and collect evidence from the crime scene and place it in a garbage bag.

Luis Damas left the apartment while his ex-wife told him she would escort him out to make him feel like she would not involve the authorities, the police report said.

Francys Damas said they went to the hospital and waited until the next day to call the police because her ex-husband threatened to have hitmen kill them if they called the authorities.

The women say they are terribly afraid.

“Just as he threatened to kill us and then tried to do it … we don't know if he really knows bad people who might try to hurt us,” Berroteran said.

Damas was later arrested for attempted murder, aggravated assault with a firearm, burglary causing bodily harm, attempted tampering with evidence, false imprisonment and aggravated assault.

He appeared in court on Saturday, where he was ordered detained without bail.

“Today I can tell you that trauma hurts more than physical injuries and that I really don't know how I will ever get over this nightmare,” Berroteran wrote in a long Instagram post. “I ask you to pray a lot for us and that justice will prevail. For my part, I promise you that if I manage to heal even a little, I will become the voice of all people who have been victims of abuse, mistreatment and, in this case, almost murder.”

This story first appeared on our sister channel Telemundo 51. The full interview in Spanish can be found here.