A blood-soaked 5-year-old girl ran to get help after witnessing her father kill her mom, aunt and grandmother before turning the gun on himself in a horrific murder-suicide at their Florida home, according to authorities and reports.
Deputies found the three dead women and the dying shooter, identified as 34-year-old Christopher Bobby Rowell, at a home in Hilliard on the evening of July 24, Nassau County authorities said.
The three victims were later identified as the girl’s devoted mother Marissa Leara Rowell, 32; grandmother Sandra Gayle Fogarty, 71; and aunt Alisha Lael Fogarty, 33, according to a GoFundMe posted for the grieving family.
Authorities were alerted to stomach-turning crime when Marissa Rowell’s 5-year-old daughter ran to a neighbor’s house for help after she witnessed her family being slaughtered, cops said.
“The child said she was in the back of the house, heard a gunshot,” Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said in a news conference following the incident.
“She came down the hallway, saw a female on the floor in the living room/dining room area — another female grabbed her and put her in the bathroom. When that individual was shot, she got blood splattered on her,” he said.
Christopher Rowell was Melissa Rowell’s husband, the victim’s cousin Steven Hallmark told First Coast News.
“I was at work listening to the radio and I had heard the shooter’s name and as soon as I heard his name, my heart just skipped, I knew instantly,” Hallmark told the outlet.
“My aunt just bought a house, and they were in the process of moving. Marissa was going to be leaving him, taking the kid,” he said.
The violent husband was still alive with a slight pulse when authorities arrived, but later died in the hospital of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, cops said. He was lying beside an SKS-style rifle when he was found, News4Jax reported.
The front door was unlocked when cops arrived, and one woman’s body was lying on the floor between the living room and dining room in a pool of blood, Leeper detailed.
A second woman was discovered in a hallway bathroom, dead from head injuries, and the third was found shot to death in a bedroom, cops said.
The little girl was not harmed.
“The family we lost were cherished individuals who brought joy and love to everyone around them,” relatives of the three women wrote in a fundraiser statement.
“We lost a devoted mother (Marissa Leara Rowell), who was a guiding light for her five-year-old daughter, a loving first-time grandmother (Sandra Gayle Fogarty) who waited her whole life to have a granddaughter in her life, and a devoted aunt (Alisha Lael Fogarty) who was crazy for her niece and loved spending hours playing games with her and being by her side like a sister,” the statement wrote.
“This child now faces a future without the warmth and loving support of her family, and we are committed to ensuring she receives the care and love she needs to heal from this traumatic incident,” the heartbroken family said.
A GoFundMe to support cremation expenses has raised over $8,000 of its $15,000 goal.
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