A father posted a selfie photo of himself with his children smiling one hour before he killed them and himself.
Humberto Christian Tovar Zapata, 41, from Florida, who has been suffering from depression has posted a black and white selfie photo of him and his children, Baleria Tovar, 12, and Matias Tovar, 9, on his Facebook account on social media at 8:36 pm before he shot them dead in a murder-suicide.
Zapata and his ex-wife Jessica Forero Cardona got divorced in August 2020 after 12 years of marriage.
Luz Kutnitz, Zapata’s mother, told Local 10 News that her son and his wife had been married for 12 years but separated in August last year. Kutnitz said: “My son suffered from bipolar disorder and he knew he needed help.”
“He was dealing with bipolarity. He never took care of it. He never wanted to take medication therapy,” Kutnitz added.
Because of his son’s bipolar disorder, Kutnitz asked him if he would ever be able to harm Baleria and Matias. At that time, he told his mother: “No, never, absolutely not”.
Authorities said that around 9:26 pm, they receive a 911 call reporting a domestic-related shooting outside the Miami Lakes apartment complex.
The police department said that Tovar shot himself and the two children at Miami Lakes, Florida. Ms. Cardona, found the bodies at 9 pm and tried to resuscitate her children, but was unsuccessful.
According to a police report Ms. Cardona was picking her children up that evening and became concerned when she did not hear from them, as they had school the next day. So, she decided to travel to the lake, expecting her husband to have taken the children there. Ms. Cardona found the bodies near a concrete bench facing Miami Lakes Drive.
Madga Peña, one of the neighbors, told NBC 6 Miami that when she and his son heard the scream, they rapidly came to help. She said: “I started looking and I saw the man’s body there and I saw the little girl’s body there, and the mom was trying to do compressions on the little girl.”
“She even pulled her body towards the son’s body to bring them closer and she herself started doing chest compressions on them.
At that point, she was already crying seeing what happened to her children. I also start to do chest compressions to help her but it’s already too late and there is nothing we can do,” she added.
The 3 were pronounced dead at the scene after authorities found them all suffering from gunshot wounds, police said a gun was also discovered next to Zapata.
It wasn’t clear if the father had shared an older image, or if the photo was taken in the lead-up to the murder’s suicide. Police said that Ms. Cardona had an argument with the suspect over their whereabouts before the incident happened.
A GoFundMe has been set up for Ms. Cardona to help her with funeral expenses and mental health care following the experience.
Kendall Alvarez began the GoFundMe page and wrote: “Jessica did everything she could to save her children. Now she’s left with the aftermath and pain of such devastating experience.”
Miami-Dade police Chief Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez tweeted about the “senseless” killings and offered condolences to the family.
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