GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. -- Clay County authorities said a man shot his estranged wife then himself Friday afternoon, and their 3-year-old daughter was home when it happened.
Deputies were called about 2:30 p.m. to an apparent murder-suicide in the 2000 block of Knowles Road in Green Cove Springs.
Friday night, the Sheriff's Office said Mark Herbert, 50, shot his 49-year-old estranged wife, Julia, then called a family member to tell them what he did. When deputies arrived, they found both dead in the home.
Family friends and the family pastor told Channel 4 that Julia was a mother of four girls. Family friends said the youngest daughter is 3 years old and witnessed the killings.
"I can't imagine what they're going through right now," a family friend told Channel 4. "They're not saying much, the little girls are crying and the older one can't really say anything because she is in shock."
The family's pastor said the woman's oldest daughter, an 18-year-old, came home with her 9-year-old sister just after the shootings.
"We've been in there praying and helping with them," said Rev. Ronnie Surrency.
Channel 4's said Julia Herbert had recently spent time at the Quigley House, Clay County's domestic abuse shelter. The children were turned over to the custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families until permanent arrangements can be made.
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