Orange County, Fl; Murder-Suicide Leaves 4 Kids Without Parents

4 Kids Left Parentless After Murder-Suicide
Posted: 9:33 am EDT March 16, 2011
Updated: 6:04 pm EDT March 16, 2011

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- An Orange County tragedy left four children without parents. Two bodies were found in a stairwell at the Villa del Sol Condos off Landstar Boulevard (see map); detectives say it was the first domestic homicide of the year in the county.
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RAW INTERVIEW: Neighbor Talks To WFTV
The shooting happened just after the children had left for school, at 8:30 in the morning in an open stairwell. The mother of four was shot down by her estranged husband.
"I just heard, 'pop, pop.' It echoed in my house," neighbor Dee Smith said.
Neighbors say they heard yelling beforehand, but it wasn't loud enough to sound suspicious.
"I heard a scream, not an exaggerated scream. I figured it was just a kid," neighbor Louie Santiago said.
Late Wednesday afternoon, detectives were still releasing few details. Neighbors, however, told WFTV the man ran a children's dance studio off Landstar Boulevard. The employee there who opened Wednesday afternoon had not heard about the shooting, but said the owner was going through a difficult divorce.
"You had a conversation about this as early as last night?" WFTV reporter Jamie Holmes asked dance studio instructor Andrea Gonzalez.
"Yes, that he was in love, that he couldn't take it, that 18 years wasn't worth 55 days of divorce," she said.
The couple's children, ages 7 to 17, were all pulled out of school and told about their parents' deaths. Investigators aren't saying if there is another family member that can care for them or if they will go into DCF custody.
"He just seemed really depressed and he couldn't take it anymore. He'd go like this, and say, 'I'm tired of this. I can't take it any longer,'" Gonzalez said.
Neighbors and the dance studio employee told WFTV the man was already under a restraining order. Investigators have not released the couple's names, because all of the family has not been notified.