POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Steevenson Joseph said he was sitting in the car with his girlfriend, Melgan Francois, early Friday morning when a man he’d never seen walked up and started shooting.
The shooter was Calindry Jean, 28, Francois’ ex-boyfriend, who, after shooting the pair, turned the gun on himself, deputies said.
“He was just like, trying to open my door,” Joseph said Friday afternoon. “My car was locked and he just, like, pulled out his gun and started shooting.”
He was screaming, Francois was screaming, and the car was awash in blood, Joseph said.
“She didn’t say anything,” he said. “She was just screaming. She was just screaming.”
Francois’ father told Channel 9 that his daughter broke up with Jean four months ago “after being beaten one too many times.”
“She said, ‘I can’t stay in this situation anymore,’” Duvard Francois said. “She called me and I went to get her and take her home.”
He said Jean sent text messages to his daughter threatening to kill her, but she took them as idle threats. Duvard Francois said his granddaughter, Kendrina, 2, was sleeping inside the home when her mother was shot outside.
He’s not sure what to tell the little girl.
"The little one, sooner or later, she's going to ask for mom. She's going to start asking for mom," Duvard Francois said.
Joseph was shot in both legs and lost so much blood that he was given a transfusion at the hospital.
“When I looked at my leg, all I saw was blood, like all the way on the floor of my car. So I bled a lot,” he said.
Deputies found him and Francois in the car, while Jean was found on the ground nearby, deputies said.
Francois and Jean were taken to area hospitals with critical injuries and later died.
Joseph was taken to the hospital with serious injuries but is expected to recover.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said investigators do not believe any other individuals were involved in the shootings, but an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Cox Media Group
