AALIYAH and ISAIAH ECHEVERRIA - 17 Months and 3 yo - Fresno CA

So Sad! Murder-Suicide Claims The Life Of 2 Children!


It can't get much worse than this!

In Fresno, California two adults and two children, one 18 months and the other 3 years old, were murdered in what police are calling a 'murder-suicide.'
In Fresno, California two adults and two children, one 18 months and the
other 3 years old, were murdered in what police are calling a
'murder-suicide.'

According to the Associated Press,
police were notified of a disturbance a little before 7 AM and when
they arrived they found a man outside his apartment suffering from a
stabbing.

Fresno police Lt. Mark Salazar said the unidentified man told
authorities his wife was inside causing a disturbance. They then heard a
gunshot coming from the apartment and when they entered saw a woman who
appeared to have been wounded by a self-inflicted gunshot.

A man in his 20s or 30s was lying dead from a gunshot wound, along
with the two children. Lt. Mark released a statement on the incident
saying:

"We have not done an autopsy yet and we're continuing the
investigation, but we believe it was a murder-suicide," Salazar said.
"We cannot confirm the order of events, and we don't know what led up to
the shooting."

Neighbor Eric Gonzalez described the family as 'normal' saying: "I
never saw them fighting. They would come out with the baby carriage, and
the man was taking care of his children..."

Police have confirmed that the dead woman who had the self-inflicted gunshot wound was the mother of the two children shot dead.


http://globalgrind.com/news/so-sad-murder-suicide-claims-life-2-children-details#ixzz1jgll03Kt

Updated article with names on this tragedy....

Mom killed two children, two others and herself after taping herself smoking meth

FRESNO, California – A woman who shot her two children, their father and a cousin in California's Central Valley before committing suicide took video of herself on her iPad as she smoked methamphetamine prior to the killings, police said Monday.

The apparent murder-suicide by 23-year-old Aide Mendez began Sunday morning when she argued with the father of her two children, 33-year-old Eduardo Lopez.

Police arrived to find Lopez outside the Silver Lakes Apartment with knife and gunshot wounds, said Lt. Mark Salazar, homicide commander for the Fresno Police Department.

They heard a muffled shot from inside the first-floor apartment and discovered Mendez had killed herself, her boyfriend's cousin, Paul Medina, 27, as well as her two children, 17-month-old Aliyah Echeverria and Isaiah Echeverria, 3.

The boy was found dead on the scene, Salazar said. Police tried to resuscitate the girl but she later died at the hospital.

"We do know that drugs played a key role, but we don't know to what extent," Salazar said. "She was seen prior to the shooting smoking methamphetamine. She recorded herself on an iPad showing her and Paul Medina smoking meth. We know the power of meth."

Salazar said the time stamp on the iPad video would have to be tested but preliminary information indicated it was recorded within a few hours of the murder.

"Her actions just seemed bizarre; her mannerism, the way she was moving her hands and her facial expressions," Salazar said, noting other drugs may have been involved but that it would take weeks before the toxicology reports were complete.

Lopez remains in critical condition at Community Regional Medical Center with stab wounds and a gunshot wound to the neck, Salazar said.

A 7-year-old girl who was a family friend was staying overnight in the apartment, but escaped unharmed.

Authorities said Monday they had yet to piece together a motive, but said family members reported that Mendez had lost a baby several years ago, and was still grieving over the loss. Police recovered three firearms in the apartment; two of them used.

"There's some things we just don't know because most of the people in that house are dead and the one person who is alive can't speak right now," Salazar said.

Jesus Gonzalez told KFSN-TV, an ABC affiliate in Fresno, that shortly before 7 a.m. on Sunday he heard gunshots and then a pounding on his door. He opened the door to find Lopez bleeding profusely.

"I opened the door and he fell in front of me, and I take him and I pull him inside," Gonzalez said. He said that before he could drag Lopez inside, Mendez tried to pull him back outside again.

Gonzalez said he shouted at her, "Hey, what happened, what happened?" and she ran off.

The family lived in the back of the gated apartment complex, which has neat lawns, trees and a children's playground.

Neighbors said there was no indication of violence between the couple before Sunday's shootings.

"They would come out with the baby carriage, and the man was taking care of his children," neighbor Eric Gonzalez said.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/16/mom-killed-two-children-two-others-and-herself-after-taping-herself-smoking/#ixzz1jiYN2OV6

Fresno police on Monday said a woman had been smoking methamphetamine shortly before she killed her two young children and her common-law husband's cousin during a stunning spree of violence early Sunday morning at an apartment complex in southeast Fresno.

Police said Aide Mendez, 23, also shot and stabbed her husband before turning the gun on herself and committing suicide.

Police identified the three murdered victims as Aliyah Echeverria, 17 months old, Isaiah Echeverria, 3, and Paul Medina, 27.

Isaiah and Medina were dead when police arrived. Aliyah was barely alive, but later died at Community Regional Medical Center, police said.

Mendez's husband and the children's father, Eduardo Lopez, 33, is in serious condition at CRMC, police said. He had been shot in the throat and stabbed.

Candles and stuffed animals lie outside the Fresno apartment door where four people were shot to death Sunday.


Aide Mendez, 23, shot and killed her two young children and another adult male in her apartment before turning the gun on herself early Sunday morning in Fresno, Calif.

A 7-year-old girl, the daughter of a friend of Mendez's, was staying overnight in the apartment but escaped unharmed, police said.

"By the grace of God, she's still alive," Deputy Chief Keith Foster said at a news conference Monday.Police also found 10 grams of methamphetamine, scales, nearly $8,000 cash and three handguns (two used in the shooting spree, the third apparently inoperable) at the apartment. They said they have no indication that the adults were involved in narcotics trafficking.

Foster said many questions, including Mendez's motive, remain unanswered. He said the investigation continues.

"I don't know what led up to this," Foster said. "I'm not familiar with any incident where a mother kills her children, then commits suicide."

Foster and police investigators described a bloody, chaotic and tragic scene at the Silver Lake Apartments on East Belmont Avenue, near Clovis Avenue.

Foster said officers responded shortly before 7 a.m. to several 911 calls about a disturbance at the apartment where Mendez, Lopez and their children had lived for about two years.

Medina had been living there for about six months, police said.

Foster said the 911 calls had been sparked in part by a man who lived in an apartment next to the Mendez-Lopez apartment. The man heard several shots, then heard banging on his front door. He looked through the peephole and saw Mendez stabbing Lopez with a steak knife.

Foster said the man yelled at Mendez to stop. At the same time, the man saw the 7-year-old girl run screaming from Mendez's apartment.

Mendez returned to her apartment. The man opened his front door, then Lopez collapsed inside the doorway. Police said Lopez told the man that Mendez had killed his cousin and was trying to kill his son.

By this time, officers had arrived and were trying to talk to the badly wounded Lopez, Foster said. They heard a single gunshot from inside Mendez's apartment, then entered the apartment.

Officers found Medina dead in the kitchen. They found Mendez in the bathroom, next to the bathtub, dead. Isaiah and Aliyah were in the bathtub, where both had been shot, police said.

Police said their investigation shows that Mendez was the only shooter. Foster said Isaiah, Aliyah and Medina had each been shot "at least once." He said autopsies were still incomplete.

Police also recovered an iPad that included a video taken a few hours before the 911 calls showing Mendez and Medina in the kitchen smoking what appeared to be meth.

Foster said none of the three adults was employed, although Lopez recently had been laid off from a job at a packingshed.

Foster said police have interviewed the 7-year-old, who had been sleeping in the living room when awakened by a disturbance. He said she has been a helpful witness.

"She may be young, but she's extremely bright, articulate and courageous," Foster said.

Foster said police had been called to the Mendez apartment several times over the past two years for family disturbances. He said the incidents allegedly involved some pushing but no injuries.

He said the children hadn't been endangered to the point where Fresno County child protective services had to be called in.

However, Foster added, disputes between Mendez and Lopez appear to have been increasing in the past few weeks. He said he didn't know why.

Foster said there have been five murders in Fresno in the first half of January, compared to one in the same period last year.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/01/16/2685440/new-details-in-fresno-apartment.html#storylink=cpy

Fresno woman videotaped herself smoking meth before killing her children, her boyfriend’s cousin and herself, cops say

Aide Mendez also shot father of her children, who is fighting for his life

John Walker/AP
People said to be neighbors of the victims mourn at a playground on the
Silver Lake Apartment complex where four people were found shot to
death in apparent murder-suicide.

Handout/AP
Aide Mendez

FRESNO, Calif. - A woman who shot her two young children, their father and a cousin in California's Central Valley before committing suicide took video of herself on her iPad as she smoked methamphetamine prior to the killings, police said Monday.

The apparent murder-suicide by 23-year-old Aide Mendez began Sunday morning when she argued with the father of her two children, 33-year-old Eduardo Lopez.

After neighbors called police to report trouble, officers arrived to find Lopez outside the Silver Lakes Apartment with knife and gunshot wounds, said Lt. Mark Salazar, homicide commander for the Fresno Police Department.

They heard a muffled shot from inside the first-floor apartment and discovered Mendez had killed herself, her boyfriend's cousin, Paul Medina, 27, as well as her two children, 17-month-old Aliyah Echeverria and Isaiah Echeverria, 3.

Police told The Fresno Bee they found Mendez in the bathroom, and found the children in the apartment's bathtub, where they had been shot at least once. The boy was found dead on the scene, Salazar said. Police tried to resuscitate the girl but she later died at a nearby hospital.

"We do know that drugs played a key role, but we don't know to what extent," Salazar said. "She was seen prior to the shooting smoking methamphetamine. She recorded herself on an iPad showing her and Paul Medina smoking meth. We know the power of meth."

Salazar said the time stamp on the iPad video would have to be tested but preliminary information indicated it was recorded within a few hours of the murder.

"Her actions just seemed bizarre; her mannerism, the way she was moving her hands and her facial expressions," Salazar said, noting other drugs may have been involved but that it would take weeks before the toxicology reports were complete.

Lopez remained in critical condition Monday evening at Community Regional Medical Center with stab wounds and a gunshot wound to the neck, said Mary Lisa Russell, a hospital spokeswoman.

A 7-year-old neighbor girl who was in the apartment escaped unharmed.

Authorities said Monday they had yet to piece together a motive, but said family members reported that Mendez had lost a baby several years ago, and was still grieving over the loss. Police recovered 10 grams of meth, $8,000 in cash and three firearms in the apartment; two of them used.

"There's some things we just don't know because most of the people in that house are dead and the one person who is alive can't speak right now," Salazar said.

Jesus Gonzalez told KFSN-TV, an ABC affiliate in Fresno, that shortly before 7 a.m. on Sunday he heard gunshots and then a pounding on his door. He opened the door to find Lopez bleeding profusely.

"I opened the door and he fell in front of me, and I take him and I pull him inside," Gonzalez said. He said that before he could drag Lopez inside, Mendez tried to pull him back outside again.

Gonzalez said he shouted at her, "Hey, what happened, what happened?" and she ran off.

The family lived in the back of the gated apartment complex in southeast Fresno, which has neat lawns, trees and a children's playground.

Neighbors said there was no indication of violence between the couple before Sunday's shootings.

"They would come out with the baby carriage, and the man was taking care of his children," neighbor Eric Gonzalez said.

Another neighbor said Monday residents were shaken by the shooting, and still struggling to comprehend what had happened.

"It just really gets you thinking about how a mother could just grab her kids and kill them," Lizeth Gonzalez, a mother of three small children who lives in the complex. "I never thought it would happen here. Whatever she did, I hope God can somehow forgive her."


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/fresno-woman-videotaped-smoking-meth-killing-children-boyfriend-cousin-cops-article-1.1007285#ixzz1jjmIZxAs

Picture Of Murdered Fresno Children Released

Posted:
Jan 17, 2012 8:38 PM EST

FRESNO, Calif. (KMPH) - The family of a three-year-old and 18-month-old who police say was shot by their meth-smoking mother has released a picture of the children, along with a message from their
father who is recovering from gunshot and stab wounds.

The picture is of three-year-old Isaiah and 18-month-old Haliyah.

It was accompanied by a message from the children's father, who was shot and stabbed in the attack the killed the children, their mother, and the mother's cousin. Police say Aide Mendez was smoking meth with her cousin at her apartment and recorded it as an iPad video.

They say she shot the children in the back of their heads as they sat in a bathtub. She then shot and killed her cousin, shot her ex-boyfriend, the children's father, stabbed him as he tried to get help, and then shot herself in the head.

You may read the father's message by clicking on the image that is inside this story at the top left.



http://www.kmph.com/story/16540858/picture-of-murdered-fresno-children-released

Father's Message:

Thanks Tom.

Life interupted and when I returned, you had been here. LOL.

Such horrible things people do when they are on drugs. Beautiful babies murdered for nothing. May they RIP with the angels.