Hispanic father from Miami shoots his sons, ages 12 and 9, before committing suicide
Police officers responded to the residential community, located along Miami Lakes Drive.
Photo: GIANRIGO MARLETTA/AFP/Getty Images
The Miami Lakes police are investigating a domestic shooting outside a residential community that left a man and his two children dead.
Police officers responded to the residential community, located along the 6400 block of Miami Lakes Drive in Miami Lakes, near a Publix supermarket, just before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The researchers said that a man shot and killed his 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son before shooting himself.
The father has been identified as Humberto Tovar, 41, and children like Valeria Tovar, 12, and Matías Tovar, 9.
Authorities said the children's mother and father were divorced.
Humberto reportedly picked up the children earlier in the day and when their mother did not hear from them, he tried to locate them until he made the heartbreaking discovery by the lake behind the residential community.
She was not injured.
Nearby resident Magda Peña and her son were seen on Ring video running out of their home to help after hearing the mother's cries for help.
“I just opened the door and ran,” Peña said. “My son ran after me. He didn't even have shoes. I ran through the grass and when I got there I saw the lady on top of the child. I couldn't see the father or the daughter because of the darkness at first."
The mother tried to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Matías, but it was already too late.
"She had pulled the girl's body towards her, like towards the boy, and she was trying to do both at the same time," Peña said. “She was like, 'Please don't stop. They are alive. They are alive', but they were all already dead”.
Peña said he then saw the gun next to the father's body.
"I was in shock for a good hour," he said. “I think I cried for an hour and I was shaking and I went into the house. I think I was up until 3 in the morning because I was there looking at everything and wondering how this happened because this has never happened here.
An image submitted by a 7News viewer captured police cars parked near the lake. Investigators were seen looking under a tarp near the water.
A Publix shopper said he left the grocery store and found multiple police cars near the parking lot.
He said he started asking and was told that some children had been killed, apparently by their father.
The witness said he saw a woman believed to be the children's mother walking away from the scene and being comforted.
"The lady came screaming across the street, and apparently that was the mother," he said.
“As I was standing, another gentleman asked 'What happened?' and I was like, 'I heard from this lady that a gentleman and two children committed suicide.' The guy was like, 'Oh my God,' and put his hand on his head like, 'That's my niece.'”
The Miami-Dade Police Director posted a tweet in response to the incident.
It is unknown if there have been any house calls involving this family prior to the shooting. The incident remains under investigation.
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