ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The niece of Markeith Loyd told Channel 9's Cuthbert Langley, that she wants her uncle to turn himself in to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
“I just want him to do the right thing before this situation turns into something else,” said his niece who didn’t want to give her name. “I just want Markeith to know that he's got people that love him and will stand behind him.”
Deputies announced Wednesday that they were looking for Markeith Loyd, 41, for the suspected killing of Sade Dixon.
The niece said Loyd hasn't turned himself in because he's "scared."
The 24-year-old pregnant mother was shot Tuesday night outside her home in the 6000 block of Long Peak Drive near Clarcona Ocoee and Pine Hills roads, deputies said. Her brother, Ronald Steward, was also shot and critically injured when he ran to his sister’s aid, deputies said.
Loyd's niece told Eyewitness News that after the shooting, her uncle went back to his house and that she was there.
“When you talked to him, how did he sound?” Langley asked.
“He was, he was shocked. He told me that it was accident. That it wasn't supposed to happen like that,” Loyd’s niece said.
Loyd left the home and hasn’t been seen since, his niece said.
“My family has been receiving death threats over the social media, through phone,” she said.
Loyd was the ex-boyfriend of Dixon and was the father of the unborn baby, deputies said.
"He's not this picture people are painting of him. That's not him, and a lot of people know that," the niece said.
Dixon was the mother of a 5-year-old and a 7-year-old.
Loyd has a criminal history and was on federal probation during the alleged killing, police said.