A 28-year-old man in Oklahoma killed his wife and their three children before turning the gun on himself, police said.
According to ABC affiliate KOCO, Cassandra Flores, 29, Hillary, 9, Damaris, 5, and Matias Armendariz, 2, were all shot to death by Flores’ husband, 28-year-old Ruben Armendariz.
Police found the victims’ bodies around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday by a family member. Jose Flores, Cassandra’s brother and uncle to the three kids, said that his father received a phone call from Ruben in the evening.
“The only time my dad goes out – the only time – he went out with a friend. Ruben called him and said, ‘I messed up,’” Jose told the news station. “When my dad got there, they were all gone. My dad saw everything.”
The victim’s brother added that he got another call from a family that same night, saying something had happened at his sister’s home and he needed to be there. Jose then got in his car and drove for around 40 minutes to Newalla.
“I called Cassie. She was never answering me. I called my dad, and my dad said, ‘He killed the kids.’ And the moment he told me, it’s like a nightmare. A nightmare you can’t wake up from,” Jose said.
Cassandra changed her Facebook cover photo to a picture of her three children playing in the ocean just two days prior to her death. Another image shows her children a few days before Christmas with Santa Claus.
“Cassandra was a great friend, mother, daughter and sister. She was working hard to provide the best life she could for her 3 children: Hillary, Damaris and Matias,” read a GoFundMe page organized by her family that had raised more $22,000 as of Thursday. “Unfortunately they were taken too soon in such a tragic and unexpected way.”
Jennifer Johnson, one of Cassandra’s friends, told CBS affiliate News 9 that she was in disbelief with what had happened.
“It’s just not real,” Johnson told the TV station. “I never expected that of Ruben at all. Like he was so quiet, but they’ve been together since she was like 17, so you know they’ve been together for a long time.”
