Slain Boy's Dad Hit Mom With a Dumbbell: Police

Dad who was person of interest in son's shooting may have committed suicide

By JEFF BURNSIDE and BRIAN HAMACHER

Updated 6:47 PM EDT, Fri, Mar 12, 2010

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Thursday was not the first time Aventura police were called to Erasmo Moreno's home in Aventura Lakes.

The 72-year old was arrested seven months ago for hitting the mother of his children with a dumbbell while she was 8 months pregnant with the couple's second child, police revealed Friday.

Moreno was found dead in his parked car from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head early this morning, just hours after his 10-year-old was found gunned down in the Aventura Lakes home. He had been a person of interest in the shooting as police searched for him throughout the night.

Aventura police found the body of Moreno just before 2 a.m.

Possible Murder-Suicide in Aventura

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Possible Murder-Suicide in Aventura

Police descended on the upscale townhome neighborhood just blocks northeast of Aventura Mall in a frantic search for Moreno, who had left the house in his Jeep Cherokee.

Moreno's lifeless body was found in the Jeep in the parking lot of a Sunny Isles Beach Tony Romas restaurant, just five miles from the family's home.

Police are not releasing the name of the boy or his mother.

During the August domestic violence incident, police also found a firearm in the Aventura home. Police said Moreno had since moved out but had access to the house because he owned it.

Court-ordered counseling allowed Moreno to avoid a conviction, according to his attorney on that case.

Juan Mourin, the attorney, said he ran into Moreno just days ago at the courthouse. He asked Moreno how he was doing and he said “everything’s fine.” Mourin said Moreno, however, had expressed deep concerns over his much younger live-in girlfriend, the dead boy’s mother, and was uncertain whether a younger boy born to his girlfriend was his.

To say things are back to normal now in the Aventura Lakes community is just not accurate. Homeowners can get in and out now. But a 10-year-old boy who used to sell lemonade to passing neighbors is dead.

“He was a cute little boy,” said neighbor Amid Benahim. “Him and I guess he and one or two of his friends set, like, would set up a table and sell lemonade.”