Family members are speaking out following the tragic shooting in Pembroke Park that left a mother and her three young sons dead and a fourth child and the alleged shooter hospitalized.
Family members are speaking out following the tragic shooting in Pembroke Park that left a mother and her three young sons dead and a fourth child and the alleged shooter hospitalized.
The shooting happened Wednesday night at an apartment complex in the 3100 block of W. Hallandale Beach Boulevard.
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WATCH HEREBroward Sheriff's Office deputies and officers from Pembroke Park Police and Hallandale Beach Police responded and found six people shot.
Julie Cruz, 32, and her sons, 11-year-old Xion Solomon, 2-year-old Nova McKenzie and 2-year-old Emery McKenzie were pronounced dead inside the apartment.
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Cruz's daughter, 8-year-old Phiinyx Solomon, was also suffering from gunshot wounds and was rushed to a local hospital, where she remained in serious condition Friday.
"She had to go through a lot of trauma. She survived quite a few gunshots," father Kelvin Solomon said Friday.
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The apparent shooter, 34-year-old Stephen McKenzie, was also found with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
Stephen McKenzie is in custody at the hospital and charges are pending. The motive for the shooting was unknown.
Cruz and McKenzie shared two sons, Nova and Emery McKenzie. Cruz’s son Xion Solomon and daughter Phiinyx Solomon have a different father, Kelvin Solomon.
Family members said Xion Solomon loved football and died protecting his mother and sister.
"I want to make sure that anytime his name is brought up that we remember he’s a hero. He died protecting his mother, he died protecting his sister," Kelvin Solomon said.
Outside the hospital Friday, Rita Hanson, the grandmother of Xion and Phiinyx Solomon spoke briefly with reporters about the girl's condition.
"She's fighting and she's gonna pull through, God is good, that's all we can say, God has her," the grandmother said. "She needs us right now and I just want everybody to just pray for her and she'll be okay, because God has her."
Hanson said the family is in shock over the tragedy.
"I’m just so upset. I’ve talked about it already, it’s heartbreaking for us," she said.
Kelvin Solomon told NBC6 that Cruz was trying to separate from McKenzie before the shooting. He said he had seen them a few days before the shooting and had a foreboding feeling that something was off with McKenzie.
“They kind of had a little back and forth and I tried to intervened to provide some clarity on the situation, so I think they were going through a break up. Sunday at the BBQ I did let her know that this doesn’t look like it’s going in the right direction," he said.
On Thursday night, NBC6 spoke with McKenzie's stepmother, Deon McKenzie about the murders. She said she and McKenzie's father are divorced.
"Very shocked about the situation," McKenzie said.
Deon McKenzie said she's out of town but is making her way back to South Florida to be with her children. She said she last saw her stepson a little more than a year ago.
"He was always so respectful, I wouldn't dream of seeing him doing something like this, especially to the kids because he was so playful with kids, so loving to kids, that part really gets to me, he's got to be going through something," Deon McKenzie said. "I don't think he reacted out of his right mind because he's really really a lover of kids."
A GoFundMe has been set up for the Solomon family.
