Neighbors shocked, saddened after woman, children killed in Pembroke Park shooting
Neighbors in a Pembroke Park apartment building are shocked and saddened after a woman and three children were shot to death Wednesday night.
"I was sleeping. I heard a couple of gunshots, like six in a row, and then four more," said Conrado Loaldi.
Broward County Regional Communications received a call about the shooting at the Sundrift apartment building on West Hallandale Beach Boulevard shortly after 7:30 p.m.
When Pembroke Park police officers arrived, they found the bodies of a woman and three children in a fourth-floor unit. They have been identified as 32-year-old Julie Cruz, 2-year-olds Nova and Emery McKenzie, and 11-year-old Xion Solomon, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office.
They also found a man, identified as 34-year-old Stephen McKenzie, and an 8-year-old girl, Phiinyx Solomon, suffering from gunshot wounds, the sheriff's office said.
"I heard a boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, then I heard someone cry out," said Beverly, who lives two doors down from unit 408 where the shooting took place. She did not wish to have her last name used in this report.
Sheriff's investigators said McKenzie shot Cruz and all four children—two of whom were his—before turning the gun on himself.
McKenzie was taken to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital in critical condition, and Solomon was taken to Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in serious condition, according to the sheriff's office.
Neighbors recall seeing family together
Beverly said the couple and children were quiet and mostly kept to themselves.
"I would see Julie and the children, mostly the father would take them to school in the mornings. They would wake me up, they were my alarm clock, 7:15 a.m., like clockwork. They would be at the elevator, going to school, taking them to school. They were so quiet, so quiet people, you would never know," she said.
Neighbors said it's hard to believe something like this happened.
"You have to be crazy, you have to be insane to do that. You got to be insane if you wanted to do something to yourself and that's it, but don't hurt anybody else—kids, wife," said Loaldi.
At one point after the shooting, a woman who neighbors identified as Cruz's mother ran toward the apartment complex screaming, "That's my daughter." A Broward Sheriff's deputy stopped her before she could reach the building and held her as she cried in his arms.
Beverly said she wished she had spoken to Cruz more.
"If you're having a problem, please reach out, speak to somebody, especially if you're a female. Please speak to somebody, speak to your neighbors. It's okay to be polite and say good morning. Say a few words so we can get to know you because I sensed something was not right," she said.
Former mother-in-law expresses shock
CBS News Miami also spoke with the suspect's former stepmother, Deon McKenzie.
"I am very stunned by this situation," she said.
"I have known him ever since he was a kid, running around. My kids always embraced him, and it is very disturbing right now."
"There is a question in my head as to why. Why would he do something like this? I am surprised he would do something like that because he loved kids. He really loved kids. I can't understand that. It is very disturbing."
Investigation ongoing
Claudinne Caro, a spokeswoman for the Broward Sheriff's Office, called the case heartbreaking.
"There are just no words to describe what happened inside the apartment," Caro said. "All the circumstances surrounding this case—what took place, what motivated this horrible incident, and the death of this mother and these children—is still under investigation."
Caro said investigators are working nonstop to determine why this happened.
