AVENTURA, Fla. – The gun that the father who shot his two children then turned on himself in a murder-suicide was stolen, family told Local 10 News.
Police said Christian Tovar, 41, shot 9-year-old Matias, and 12-year-old Baleria, on Tuesday night.
Family tells Local 10 News that Tovar, who worked at City Bikes in Aventura, stole the gun used in the shooting from a co-worker at the store.
Miami-Dade police said the children were shot by their father Tuesday night in Miami Lakes before he killed himself.
“He had some depression and maybe some bipolarity” said Tovar’s mother, Luz Kuznitz. “He didn’t take his pills.”
Miami-Dade police said they responded to the 6400 block of Miami Lakes Drive around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
According to police, Tovar had picked up his children earlier in the day but never returned them home. Their mother then attempted to contact him because it was getting late.
Police said Tovar’s ex-wife found their location and went to the area at the bank of the canal, where she found their bodies.
Tovar’s mother said the location where the bodies were found was a place that her son biked to often because he loved the serenity of the lake.
A manager at the bicycle shop in Aventura told Local 10 News off-camera that Tovar had worked at the shop for six months but declined to say more.
“My pain, my deepest pain, because I did not just lose my son, my only son, I lost my grandchildren,” Kuznitz said.
Local 10 News has reached out to Miami-Dade Police about the gun, and as of this writing, they have not yet responded.
Two GoFundMe pages have been created to help the children’s mother during her time of need. They can be found by clicking here, or clicking here.