Family members speak out after a man killed his wife and kids before killing himself in NW Miami-Dade. NBC6’s Lorena Inclan reports
A man apparently shot and killed his two teen children and his wife before turning the gun on himself at the family's apartment in northwest Miami-Dade, police said.
Miami-Dade Police said they had received a call requesting a welfare check on the family that lived in a unit at the Royalton on the Green Apartments at 17400 Northwest 68th Avenue.
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Officers responded Sunday night and noticed a foul odor coming from the apartment, officials said.
When they went inside the apartment, they found four people suffering from gunshot wounds.
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Police said it appears a man shot his wife, daughter and son before shooting himself.
Officials haven't released their identities but the mother's brother identified the gunman as 60-year-old Victor Penalba and his wife as 50-year-old Yumara Martinez.
He identified their children as 13-year-old Stephanie and 18-year-old Jason.
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Juan Rodriguez said his nephew's friends had alerted police after not hearing from him for days. He said his nephew had sent a cryptic message about two weeks ago.
"According to the detective, he tells us that my nephew mentioned to, I believe it was his friend or his girlfriend, a week before the 29th, that said 'if you don’t hear from me in four to five days something bad happened,'" Rodriguez said. "Why would he say that? It leads me to believe that the father was threatening them."
Rodriguez said the family knew his sister and Penalba had separated but there was talk of them getting back together. He said the family disapproved of that but said no one imagined he was capable of something like this.
"I know my sister broke up with him on and off a few times and she found this apartment, she was living with two kids," Rodriguez said. "I guess he fell on bad luck and he lost his job with Hialeah water department and he cried to her and she gave him a chance to come live with her and help her pay the bills and she paid a heavy price."
He added that the family was destroyed and still trying to process what happened.
It's unclear when the killings actually happened and how long the bodies had been in the apartment.
Detectives are still investigating the incident.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
