Florida

Central Florida Man Shoots Self After Killing Wife, 2 Young Children

A central Florida man killed his estranged wife and two young children before fatally shooting himself as police pursued him on a highway, authorities said Monday.

The spree began late Sunday when 30-year-old Henry Ramone Brown waited in the trunk of Chericia Brown's vehicle, outside a Chili's restaurant. Henry Brown stabbed her as she was leaving the restaurant, authorities said. He then got into his own car and ran her over, along with a paramedic and nurse who had been in the restaurant and had come outside to give aid to his wife, according to a news release from the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.

Chericia Brown was taken to a hospital, where she later died.

Henry Brown then drove in his car to his apartment complex and switched to another vehicle. He picked up the couple's children, ages 4 and 1, from a baby sitter and drove to Central Florida Regional Hospital to look for his estranged wife, arriving almost an hour and a half after the attack outside the restaurant. He was confronted by deputies and Sanford police, fired at them and ran from the hospital, according to the sheriff's office.

Deputies subsequently located him on Interstate 4. They laid down "stop sticks'" to deflate the tires of his vehicle. When deputies approached the vehicle, they found the bodies of Henry Brown and the children. Detectives believe he killed the children sometime after picking them up, according to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.

Altamonte Springs police records show Chericia Brown filed a domestic violence injunction against her husband in January.

She initially filed an incident report with the Altamonte Springs police last December, according to official documents obtained by The Associated Press. In the report, Chericia said she believed her husband was cheating on her and that he had threatened to kill her if she took the couple's children away from him.

In the report, Chericia Brown described multiple incidents of Henry Brown pulling her by the hair, slapping her face and threatening her kids and a friend when she went to the friend's home to get away from her husband.

But police investigators said in their report that Chericia Brown didn't have facial injuries to support her claims of being slapped. Henry Brown told detectives that his wife was upset over the fact that he had a mistress and her story was "a lie" to get back at him for having the mistress, according to a statement he gave police.

Chericia Brown hadn't returned to their home and had no plans to return so "the fear of further violence doesn't exist," according to the Dec. 20 police report.

The State Attorney's Office agreed, writing in the police report, "There is insufficient evidence to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt."

In a form she filled out for the State Attorney's Office on Dec. 21, she checked the boxes "fearful" and "nervous" when asked to describe her state of mind, and she checked "yes" for the question, "Do you think your partner/offender is capable of killing you?" according to records released by the State Attorney's Office.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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