FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – The family of a woman who was found shot to death at a Fort Wayne motel is speaking out.  They said she was in an abusive relationship with the man who’s now considered a person of interest in the shooting. 

The victim was identified as 19-year-old Angel May Carter of Fort Wayne. Police are looking for 40-year-old Thomas Jermaine Jackson. Police consider Jackson armed and dangerous.

“We’re still trying to come to terms with it,” said Carter. “They had a very rocky, sometimes physically abusive relationship.”

Carter’s family said she had been in a serious relationship with Jackson for nine months. The family doesn’t know where he may be. Carter’s stepmom and sister, Ashley Korn, said he has ties to Chicago and Detroit. 

“I keep waiting for that phone call from my dad telling me they got him,” said Korn. “Every day that goes by I’m scared they’re not going to catch him.”

Police responded to the Rodeway Inn located at 2920 Goshen Road initially for an unknown problem around 4 o’clock Sunday morning. A caller informed police dispatch that a woman was bleeding and lying on the ground outside of a room on the second floor.

“Nothing will ever be what it was Saturday,” said Samantha Carter, who is the woman’s stepmother. “So we trudge forward and hope and pray no one ever has to go through this.”

Police said they arrived and found the woman with apparent gunshot wounds. Paramedics pronounced the woman dead at the scene.

Police believed Jackson was possibly in an adjacent room to where the woman was found.

“Tell your family you love them because you don’t know when it will be their last,” said Korn. “And when it is their last and you didn’t get that chance… it’s going to hurt.”

The family has set up a GoFundMe account to help with funeral expenses.