10, 13 & 14 year old - North Miami Beach - FL

Two Dead, Three Children wounded in North Miami Beach
November 21st 2010

A man and a woman are dead, and three of her four children -- ages 10, 13, and 14 -- are fighting for their lives in critical condition after the man went on a shooting rampage in their North Miami Beach home Saturday night.Police spokesman Officer Mike Pons said the shooting is being ruled a domestic murder suicide. The shooter lived at the home in the 1500 block of Northeast 151st Terrace, but was not the biological father of the children.North Miami Beach police responded to a call Saturday at 11:20 p.m. and first found the injured 10-year-old boy, who had gone to a neighbor's home for help. They heard gunshots at the boy's home and called in a SWAT unit. When they entered the home, they found a 14-year-old girl shot, the dead bodies of the adult male and female, and the 13-year-old boy, who had also been shot.A 2-year-old boy was also at the scene, but uninjured. The toddler remained in the city's custody as of late Sunday morning.Names of the victims have not been released, as police try to contact the next of kin.Pons said the couple and the children ``lived together as a family at that home,'' and the shooting came after a domestic dispute. The man grabbed a gun in the heat of the argument, shot the family members, and then turned the gun on himself.It's unclear what sparked the argument. Anyone with information is asked to call Officer Mike Pons at 786-201-1635.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/fl-north-miami-beach-shooting-20101121,0,7626260.story

A man and a woman are dead, and three of her four children — ages 10, 13, and 14 — were in critical condition after the man went on a shooting rampage in their North Miami Beach home Saturday night.

The shooting is being ruled a domestic murder-suicide, said police spokesman Mike Pons. The shooter, his girlfriend and her four children lived together at the home at 1500 Northeast 151st Terrace. The man was not the birth father of the children.

The shooting Saturday night came after a violent argument between the two adults over infidelities, one of the children later told her father. In a rage, she said her stepdad grabbed a gun, killed her mother, then went after the kids. He then turned the gun on himself.

Names of the victims were not released Sunday night because police had been unable to contact relatives to notify them of the deaths.

The tragedy unfolded around 11:20 p.m., when North Miami Beach police responded to a call of a shooting in the Washington Park neighborhood. They found a wounded 10-year-old boy who had gone to a neighbor's home for help. While interviewing the boy, they heard gunshots from inside the boy's home and called in a SWAT unit.

When they entered the home, they found the bodies of the adult man and woman, as well as a wounded 13-year-old boy and 14-year-old girl.

A 2-year-old boy was found at the scene uninjured. The toddler remained in the city's custody as of Sunday evening, and the Department of Children & Families was involved.

"We got a call on our hot line about the case and are collaborating with police, investigating to see if we have a history with the home," said Miami DCF spokeswoman Lissette Valdes-Valle. "If there is a family member, that would be the best case, to place the kids with a family member."

Police are still trying to piece together what led to the violence. There was no answer at the house Sunday afternoon.

Wills Dorleus, 38, who identified himself as the father of three of the four children, told WSVN-Ch. 7 he saw his 10-year-old injured son, Xavier, and spoke to his daughter at the hospital and she gave him an account of what had happened inside the home.

"I just went to the hospital, and [my] daughter, she spoke to me and she said she heard the stepdad arguing with her mom about 'He has another girlfriend.' It was about jealous things," Dorleus told the station.

The girl told her father she heard shots in the night. "When she went in the room, she saw her mom lying down on the ground. The man had a pistol in his hand. She said, 'You killed my mom? You killed my mom?'

"That's when he shot her and went back in the room, shot my son and my stepson. … It is shocking. I don't know why someone would do something like this."

The couple shared their home with a roommate. The roommate, who declined to give his name, had traveled to New York on Saturday before the shooting and said he was shocked to learn the news Sunday morning.

It was the shooter who dropped him off at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport before his trip.

On Sunday, he said he couldn't believe the fight that turned fatal could have been about infidelity.

"They seemed happy to me, like a regular couple. There were arguments, of course, but nothing very, not even close, to what I could say was violent," the roommate said.

He said his friend worked in security and the girlfriend worked at a supermarket. She moved into the home a few months ago with her children.

They acted like a typical couple. He would pick her up from work. They would laugh and play, sometimes roughhousing with the kids, he said.

"I don't know how he got there, you know, to that point. I told my girlfriend if I was there, maybe it wouldn't go down that way," the roommate said. "You never know. But maybe I could have gotten him away from the situation."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/miami-dade/fl-north-miami-beach-shooting-20101121,0,2174118.story

I wish there was a law against having a gun in a household where there are children.