Murder and suicide in Florida: Four elderly people die, community “stunned”

Florida authorities are investigating an “apparent murder-suicide” that left four elderly people dead on Sunday.

Miami-Dade Police officers responded to a call to a home in the Kendale Lakes neighborhood to check on the welfare of a person who was in hospice care shortly before 2 p.m., police said in a news release sent to Newsweek.

Police found a dead adult woman in one room and an adult man and woman in another room. All victims had apparent gunshot wounds.

As officers continued to search the home, they found a dead adult male with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and a firearm nearby.

The person in hospice care was among the deceased victims. Preliminary information shows all four lived in the same house, police said Newsweek.

The names of the victims have not been released by authorities. The man, who apparently died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, is between 60 and 65 years old. Two of the victims were between 80 and 85 years old, and the age of the other victim was not released.

“I’m shocked because I’ve lived here for 25 years and nothing like this has ever happened,” a neighbor told CBS News.

A neighbor told the outlet that an elderly couple lived there with their adult son and wife. The woman had recently suffered a stroke and was receiving medical care at home from nurses.

“They were there last Wednesday and said she was very optimistic, she was talking and in good spirits. Her son, on the other hand, I heard, was not in such good spirits. They were just worried about the son because he didn’t seem to be doing well emotionally,” said another neighbor.

Det. Angel Rodriguez told CBS News the dispute was “domestic in nature.”

Joanna Cruz told NBC Miami she was the one who discovered three of the bodies. She said she knew the victims and her mother tried to help the elderly woman.

“She couldn’t cook anymore, so my mom came to give her food and she knocked and knocked and nothing. And she asked me to bring the key,” Cruz said.

Cruz remembered what she saw after entering the house.

“I saw the elderly lady on the bed and the body of the elderly man on the bed to the left, blood coming out of their mouths, and the woman in the other room,” Cruz said. “I feel like I’m in a nightmare.”

She said she did not see the fourth body because she ran out of the house.

“I said if he’s still alive here, I’ll be next,” Cruz said.

The Miami-Dade Police Department’s Homicide Unit is investigating the incident. Anyone with information should contact CrimeStoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477) or (866) 471-8477.