3-year-old survives family massacre by hiding under blanket as father kills her mother, twin sister and grandmother
PEMBROKE PINES, FLORIDA: A three-year-old girl who survived a killing spree by her father that resulted in the deaths of her mother, her grandmother, her twin sister, and her father himself, did so by hiding under a blanket for three hours, it has been revealed.
MEAWW previously reported that Pablo Colon Jr., 35, shot and killed his wife Sandra Colon, 36, his three-year-old daughter, and his mother-in-law Olga Alvarez, 61, at their home Avenue in the Grove Estates subdivision of Grand Palms, before turning the gun on himself, on August 26.
When the Pembrokes Pines Police responded to the location and forced themselves into his apartment, they uncovered four bodies but also found that one of Colon's children had survived the massacre: three-year-old Adriana.
She was unhurt in the shooting and transported to a local hospital for non-life threatening injuries, with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel now reporting that the young girl survived because she hid underneath the kitchen table covered by a blanket.
In the heartwrenching 911 call made by Alvarez as the shooting was unfolding, she can be heard desperately telling the dispatchers, "He's going to kill her. Don't, don't. He killed her," before later adding, "Come, come. He's going to hurt me. Quick. Save the children. Please."
Colon can be heard swearing at his mother-in-law, who begs, "I didn't know." But it's all in vain, as he responds, "Now you die, right?"
The police responded to the residence shortly after 8:30 pm that fateful night, where they feared the worst after no one answered the door. Their suspicions were confirmed after a 911 call made by Colon's cousin Dominique Pinzon, who told the operator, "He said he killed his wife and the two kids. And he said, 'I'm sorry, I have to do it. And I'll see you in heaven.'"
Law enforcement tried and failed to establish contact with Colon for the next two hours before a SWAT team went into the home, where they found Adriana's twin dead by the staircase, and Colon, Olga, and Alvarez all dead in the master bedroom.
Adriana was so well hidden that they only found her during a second sweep of the home. "Who knows, maybe her love for hide-and-seek saved her life," quipped Pinzon.
The three-year-old is in the custody of family members and is in the process of being formally adopted. A GoFundMe page set up to raise donations that will go towards her future has raised $2,350 of a possible $10,000 goal at the time of writing.