Mar 16, 2009 12:20 am US/Eastern
Five People Dead In Suspected Murder-Suicide
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Five people were killed in what Miami police suspect was a murder-suicide.
CBS
Five people are dead in what Miami police are calling a murder-suicide. Investigators still don't know what motivated the murders. It all started just after midnight Saturday night.
Friends say the shooter interrupted a birthday party with gunfire. Many spilled out into the street, running for cover and screaming.
Neighbors heard about thirty shots, with a few breaks in between while the shooter reloaded. Inside police say they found four people dead. The victims' friends told CBS4 News Reporter Tiffani Helberg the shooter shot his estranged wife, his mother-in-law, his 19-year-old step-daughter and her 27-year-old boyfriend. The party was in honor of the boyfriend's birthday. CBS4 News is withholding the victims' names as police are still in the process of notifying family members.
One pregnant woman who fled was taken to the hospital as a precaution, but she was not hurt. Police said the couple had been married for about four years; they weren't sure when she left him.
Neighbor Juan Sosa said he witnessed the gunman stalking the people in the house.
"The guy was parked about half an hour prior," said Sosa. "The guy was walking back and forth with his pickup truck with his lights turned off."
After the shootout, Sosa says the shooter drove off in his red pickup; a frightening night that Sosa will never forget.
"I could've been killed cause I was walking my dog last night," said Sosa. "Especially the way he was firing around out here."
Minutes after the shooting rampage, firefighters responded to a fire about five miles away. Inside they found the shooter dead. But at the time, fire rescue didn't know the cases were linked.
"When we first pulled in there we thought we were pulling out maybe a resident of the home who was overcome by smoke," says Miami Fire-Rescue Spokesman Ignatius Carroll. "But we found there seemed to be a little bit more we called Miami Police homicide and they took over the scene."
Firefighters say the shooter surrounded himself with gas and propane tanks. They also say he placed gas and propane tanks throughout the home and in his truck. Fortunately, fire fighters were able to extinguish the flames before the tanks exploded.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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