VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla.,None — A murder-suicide left three people dead inside a Volusia County home Monday morning and an 11-year-old girl witnessed the entire incident unfold, deputies told WFTV
The sheriff's office said 73-year-old Phillip Spinney lived in the home with his daughter, 41-year-old Lara Negron, and his 11-year-old granddaughter. Investigators believe Lara's ex-husband, 39-year-old Carlos Negron, shot her, Spinney, and then himself.
"Once we got in, we found three victims on the back porch, two adult males, one adult female," said Brandon Haught of the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.
911 CALLS (explicit): Witnesses Call For Help RAW INTERVIEW: Neighbor On Murder-Suicide AT THE SCENE: Images Of Porch, Home
Deputies responded to the home south of Deltona, along Sunset Road in Stone Island (see map), after receiving a 911 call Monday morning from a neighbor who heard gunfire. The early-morning gunshots rattled the usually quiet community.
"I was still in bed. I heard a bunch of gunshots. It was two houses down. [There is] nobody in the house between us," neighbor Dianne Rothermund told WFTV.
Phillip Spinney 112910 Phillip Spinney Sheriff's investigators swarmed the neighborhood. When they arrived they found the three bodies on the back porch of the home.
Investigators believe Lara's estranged husband Carlos shot them both and then turned the gun on himself. The Negrons' 11-year-old daughter was in the home and watched it unfold. Neighbors heard the gunshots and, when they went outside, they saw the 11-year-old girl running toward them.
"[The girl] told my boyfriend, 'My dad just shot my mom and grandpa,'" Rothermund said. "She just said, 'He shot them in the head, he shot both of them in the head.'"
Rothermund called 911 and took the girl inside her home. She said Lara Negron and the girl had been living with Spinney for about one year since Lara separated from Carlos, and they were going through a divorce.
"Ok maam, did you see the people get shot?" the dispatcher asked the caller.
"No, but a little girl that lives there just did," the caller replied.
The girl named A.D. told Rothermund her father shot them, and then called a family friend to come take care of her.
"He told Kelly, 'I did something bad, I need you to get AD,'" Rothermund said
Another neighbor, John Doyle, told WFTV he had just spoken with Spinney shortly before shots were fired.
"I just spoke to Phil, had a chat about Thanksgiving. A chat for five minutes like we always do," Doyle said. "Spinney was taking care of them and they were very happy."
Rothermund told WFTV she is thankful the girl was unharmed. She said she can't understand what might have set this off and can't imagine what the girl is going through.
"To witness her father doing that to her grandfather and mother, that's got to be the toughest thing in the world for a child," Rothermund said.
The couple's child wasn't injured and is in the care of the sheriff's office and officials with the Florida Department of Children and Families, Gary Davidson of the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said.
A handgun was recovered near the body of Carlos Negron.
The Volusia County Medical Examiner's Office removed the bodies from the scene and will conduct autopsies on Tuesday to confirm the cause of death.
WFTV found an old domestic violence case involving the Negrons from 2001 where Carlos was arrested, but there were no current restraining orders found.