Man kills his two children, 12 and 9, in murder-suicide an HOUR after posting happy selfie
MIAMI LAKES, FLORIDA: Two children, Baleria Tovar, 12, and Matias Tovar, 9, were shot dead by their father Humberto Christian Tovar Zapata before he turned the gun to shoot himself in Miami Lakes. A happy selfie of the three sitting in an SUV was posted by the father on social media close to an hour before the incident that took place on Tuesday night. Miami-Dade police reached the scene at 9.30 pm at 6400 block of Miami Lakes Drive.
Zapata’s mother revealed on Local 10 News that her son suffered from bipolar disorder and was married to his wife for 12 years. Zapata had recently separated in August of last year after living together with his wife for 12 long years. She also shared how Zapata needed help dealing with his disorder and was not a fan of medication as well. “He was dealing with bipolarity. He never took care of it. He never wanted to take medication therapy,” she said.
READ MORE
According to the police, the kids were living with their mom when the 41-year-old picked them up. The mother tried to reach Zapata when the kids were not back home on time and it was getting late since they had school the next day. It was when Zapata did not respond to her calls, his ex-wife found their location and went to the area at the bank of the canal, where she found their bodies.
“I am going to miss my grandchildren,” said Zapata’s mother. She also described how Zapata’s mental illness was left untreated but he used to bicycle to help relieve his stress. A manager at City Bikes in Aventura also said Tovar Zapata had worked at the shop for six months.
A local living nearby told Local 10 News that she was just coming out of the shower when she heard a woman screaming. In the ring video footage, Magda Peña and her son are seen bolting out of their house to find Zapata’s ex-wife screaming in anguish. “After I heard her screaming, I just opened the door and I ran,” she said. “My son ran behind me. He didn’t even have shoes. I ran across the grass and when I got there, I saw the lady on top of the little boy. I couldn’t see the dad or the daughter because of the darkness at first.”
In a prepared release, Miami-Dade Police Department’s Homicide Bureau that is investigating the domestic-related shooting stated that the officers responded to reports of three people being shot and when they arrived, they found two children suffering from apparent gunshot wounds and an adult male suffering from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.