Man Fatally Shoots His Mom & 3 Others Before Turning Gun on Himself in “Super Safe Neighborhood” | “This Is Crazy”

The father said that he did not understand why his son would do something so extreme.

Cover Image Source: YouTube | CBS Miami

By Suchitra B

March 16, 2023

Posted March 16, 2023

Trigger Warning: The following content contains mentions of suicide, mental health, gun violence, and murder, which may be triggering to some readers.

Five people died inside a Miami Lakes house on the morning of March 10 in a murder-suicide case that Miami-Dade police are still looking into. The police responded to the home, according to the authorities, after getting a call from a family member worried about their loved ones, per PEOPLE.

The Miami-Dade Police Department later verified that Dhani Aguilar, 24, fatally shot his mother Yoanka Aguilar, 54, as well as Beatriz Ferrer David, 24, Barbara David Ballesteros, 58, and another unidentified male. The son then went on to shoot himself.

Miami-Dade Police spokesman, Alvaro Zabaleta, shared that the scene was "extremely tragic," in a briefing shared by NBC 6 South Florida. “You can only imagine for the family members that were here, that this is extremely tragic to be able to find five individuals that are in there lifeless,” Zabaleta said while speaking to reporters outside the home on Friday.

Police in South Florida were investigating five deaths Friday in what they believe to be a murder-suicide. Miami-Dade police officers responded to a Miami Lakes home Friday morning after a relative requested a welfare check, a news release said. https://t.co/Df4A3Xa9Gd
— (((IrieLinkUp))) (@IrieLinkUp) March 11, 2023

According to Zabaleta, when officers entered the house through a window, they found a person who was "deceased and suffering from an apparent gunshot wound." He further added, "As they continued to clear the house to look for any possible suspects, or of course, more danger, that's when they continued to search the different rooms and found additional bodies in those rooms. Again, also deceased from apparent gunshot wounds."

A member of the family, Yoanka's ex-husband, Rolando Aguilar was the first to identify the victims. He shared with Local News 10, that he was “heartbroken” after hearing the news and did not understand why his son would do something so extreme.

The son of one of the victims of a grisly murder-suicide in which five bodies were found gunned down in a Miami-Dade Florida home has been identified as the shooter by neighbors and loved ones. 😥 https://t.co/EOXJRN0Saq
— CJ4America (@GrammyC4Zone) March 11, 2023

The motive for the shooting still remains unclear. According to neighbors, at least one of the victims had only recently immigrated to the United States from Cuba. “I still don’t know what happened. I am in shock. I'm blown away, I can't believe it," Aguilar said to Univision. “I don’t know why he killed five people, four and himself,” a neighbor said.

As investigators looked for clues, live video from the neighborhood showed several police cruisers at the site and yellow crime scene tape enclosing the home, CBS reported. The violent scenario was a sharp contrast to the normal surroundings for resident Veronica Santiago. “We ride bikes through here, it is a super safe neighborhood,” she told Miami Herald. “Never anything happens like this. This is crazy, out of the ordinary.”

Despite the tragedy, Zabaleta said, the police don't want the locals to believe they are in danger. “We feel that everything here is contained and isolated to this resident and there’s not necessarily a public safety factor.”