A stabbing suspect who was shot and killed by officers in Hialeah Wednesday had had fatally stabbed his mother and also stabbed his sister and grandmother, police said.
Alex Gonzalez, Jr., 30, was identified as the attacker, Hialeah Police said Thursday. His 17-year-old sister, identified by family friends as Amanda Gonzalez, and their grandmother, 69-year-old Rosa Gonzalez, remain at the hospital as of Thursday morning.
A family friend said Gonzalez Jr. lived at the home on West 42nd Place and West 5th Court with the women and had mental health issues.
Officials have not confirmed a possible motive in the triple stabbing.
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The suspect's mother, Madeleyne Gonzalez, would have turned 50 on Thursday, according to posts on Facebook offering condolences.
“I still don’t know why I wanted to celebrate your birthday in advance… but now I understand that everything happens for a reason,” one friend wrote on Madeleyne Gonzalez’s Facebook wall.
Instead of wishing his sister a happy birthday, Mayke Gonzalez was faced with having to break the tragic news to his mom and niece.
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"That was my toughest task today was to let both of them know that my mom’s daughter, my sister, had passed away, and it was tough to tell my niece that her mom had passed away," he said. "It was extremely tough. They took it bad, like I knew they were, but with the help of family and all the great doctors here and nurses, they’re both gonna be very fine."
Hialeah Police officials said the incident began when they received a call for a domestic disturbance at around 4:25 a.m.
As officers arrived, they were met by one victim, who appeared to be stabbed outside of the home, police said.
Inside the home there were two more stabbing victims and an armed suspect, according to authorities.
Officers were rendering aid when there was a "confrontation" between them and the suspect, and they opened fire.
Video captured by NBC6 showed the moment officers fired several shots from the door of the residence.
The suspect and his mother died at the scene, police said. The other victims were taken to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Both are expected to survive.
"She went to surgery today, she came out perfectly fine," said Mayke Gonzalez of his niece. "She is gonna pull through – also, my mom, Rosa Gonzalez, also is gonna pull through. They’re both in very stable condition."
The family is now working to set up a GoFundMe account to help Amanda pay for college.
"For Amanda's future, for her college, because all she had was my sister, and my sister passed away, and I need to make sure my niece is gonna have a safe future," Mayke Gonzalez said.
While Rosa’s and Amanda’s physical wounds will heal, the mental and emotional trauma of what they experienced will take a long time to process.
"I gotta stay strong for both of them, because once again, I’m the only male model that they have in their life, so I have to stay strong for them," Mayke Gonzalez said.
Those who knew Gonzalez Jr. said he was a young musician who struggled with his mental health, and his mother did the best she could for him.
"It's been a real tragedy. He has had a nervous condition for a long time," a neighbor said in Spanish about Gonzalez Jr. "Before there were many problems, but he had been calm for a while."
Gilberto Rodriguez, visibly emotional, said he is a family friend of the victims, who he identified as a woman along with her mother and daughter.
"[They are] the best family for us," he said. "I'm so sad... All the friends and families trying to see how we can help the family, but the truth is right now, we're shocked."
According to Steadman Stahl, the president of police union South Florida PBA, two officers were involved in the shooting. South Florida PBA is representing one of those officers.
"These things happen in split seconds. But there's body cameras, there was a lot of verbal commands to drop the knife. He did not want to. And when you charge officers with a knife there's no other outcome that could have taken place than what took place," Stahl said.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will be investigating the incident, which is standard practice in police shootings.
The investigation continues.
