PEMBROKE PARK, FLA. (WSVN) - A man who opened fire on his family, killing a woman and three of her children before turning the gun on himself, has died, Broward Sheriff’s Office homicide detectives said Monday.
Authorities identified the suspect as 34-year-old Stephen McKenzie, who died at the hospital on Thursday, a day after the mass shooting at an apartment in Pembroke Park.
Deputies responded to the shooting around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at 3181 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd., where they found six people shot inside the residence.
Area resident Richard Rainey said he was with Stephen an hour before the nightmare unfolded.
“He wasn’t upset or anything. We said ‘hi’ and ‘how’s it going?’ And he went in the laundry room. I got on the elevator and came back 20 minutes later sitting there, watching TV,” said Rainey, “and then, it was all the ‘boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.”
Julie Cruz, 32, and three of her children — 11-year-old Xion Solomon and 2-year-old Nova and Emery McKenzie — were pronounced dead at the scene.
Stephen was found with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, while Cruz’s 8-year-old daughter, Phiinyx Solomon, was also critically injured.
7News cameras captured Cruz’s mother arriving at the scene to see the horror.
“That’s my daughter! That’s my daughter!” she screamed.
Investigators said Cruz and Stephen shared two of the children who were killed, Nova and Emery, while Xion and Phiinyx Solomon have a different father, Kelvin Solomon.
Kelvin and Rita, the children’s grandmother, spoke with 7News on Friday. He said he was on the phone at the time of the shooting and heard the ordeal.
“I was listening and, you know, that’s how I know what was going on.,” said Kelvin.
Paramedics rushed Phiinyx to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, where she remains in serious condition.
“She was struck three times — twice in the chest region, once in her leg — and they did a couple of surgeries,” said Kelvin. “Phiinyx is doing what Phiinyx does. She’s rising to the occasion, and she’s fighting, and she’s definitely trending in the right direction.”
McKenzie was taken to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital in critical condition before succumbing to his injuries the next day.
Phiinyx is the only survivor. In all, authorities said, six people were shot.
“Domestic violence is definitely a scary thing, and it affects everybody,” said Kelvin. “No child deserves what happened to my children, so I wouldn’t want that for anybody in the world.”
Kelvin said Stephen and Cruz were going through a breakup, and things got heated during a family picnic they had just a few days before the shooting.
“I did kind of nudge her to, you know, ‘You might want to make some provisions to get yourself out of this situation,'” said Kelvin. “It just didn’t seem like, you know, he was dealing with the deparation too well, so I kind of warn her.”
It was a warning that came too late. Now, Kelvin said, his focus is on Phiinyx’s recovery and burying his son.
“He’s a hero. I want to make sure anytime his name is brought up that we remember that he’s a hero,” he said. “He died protecting his mother, he died protecting his sister, and that’s it.”
“I went to his football game two weeks ago, and he played so well, and after the game, he gave me this, he gave me this,” said Rita as she held her grandson’s medal. “He said, ‘Grandma, I want you to have this, I want you to have it,’ and now he’s gone.”
7News has learned Stephen was suffering from bipolar disorder.
The City of Pembroke Park will offer grief counseling at Pembroke Park Town Hall, beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
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