MIAMI – Miami police investigated a double homicide in the city’s Flagami neighborhood Wednesday morning.
The deadly shooting happened at around 9:30 a.m. at the Yolanda Villas condominiums, located at 801 NW 47th Ave., about a mile south of the Miami International Airport.
According to the Miami Police Department, a man shot and killed a mother and daughter in what authorities described as an ambush after following another person inside the apartment.
The women, identified by police as Irisbel Cartalla, 50, and Isbelsy Olivera, 22, were found unresponsive in front of the apartment door. Cartalla would have celebrated her 51st birthday on Saturday; Olivera would have turned 23 on Dec. 21.
Police initially believed the shooter was Cartalla’s estranged husband, but later said it was her daughter’s ex-boyfriend, 48-year-old Carlos Alexander Travieso.
The condominium property manager told Local 10 News that Cartalla worked at the building as a custodian and was “full of life, very happy, outgoing” and that she and her daughter were “beautiful people” who did not deserve to have their lives cut short.
Neighbors were stunned by the deadly double shooting.
“Did not have the pleasure to meet the daughter, but I did know the mom — very wonderful lady,” neighbor Jackie Granda said. “She was always very happy, very alegre — very, very, very nice lady and it’s unfortunate that this happened.”
An MPD spokesperson said Travieso drove to a nearby police station and confessed to the crime.
“It’s always very hard to report on devastating situations like this, especially during the holiday season, so, let’s just keep the family in prayers at this time,” MPD Officer Kiara Delva said.
Delva said authorities were still gathering information and the department’s investigation was ongoing as of late Wednesday.