HIALEAH, Fla. – Hialeah police identified the suspect and victims Thursday, a day after a fatal domestic stabbing spree.
The suspect was identified as 30-year-old Alex Gonzalez Jr.
Police said Gonzalez fatally stabbed his mother, Madeline Gonzalez, early Wednesday morning at their home on the corner of West 43rd Place and West Fifth Court, just a day before she would have turned 50. They said he also stabbed his 17-year-old sister, Amanda Gonzalez, and his 69-year-old grandmother, Rosa Gonzalez.
“One thing about my aunt -- she was very, very nice to her son. She never talked bad about her son even though he had issues,” said Alexandra Morales, the cousin of Alex Gonzalez. “Getting betrayed by your own family is I think one of the worst things to go through.”
Both of the surviving victims were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, but their conditions have not been released.
According to Hialeah police Lt. Eddie Rodriguez, the stabbing spree was reported around 4:25 a.m. Wednesday.
“As officers arrived, they were met by one victim, who appeared to be stabbed outside of the home,” Rodriguez said in an email to Local 10. “Inside of the home were two additional stabbing victims, as well as an armed suspect.”
According to Rodriguez, officers were rending aid to the victims when a confrontation ensued between the suspect and officers.
The sound of multiple gunshots being fired can be heard in a video taken outside the home as officers were in the doorway of the house.
Rodriguez confirmed that officers were forced to discharge their guns and that Alex Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the scene.
Madeline Gonzalez was also pronounced dead at the scene.
“Getting betrayed by your own family is I think one of the worst things to go through and the way that he did it -- it is a really messed up situation honestly all around,” Morales said. “It is very shocking. Not even a stranger that doesn’t even know you could do that. It is sad.”
A woman who asked not to be identified and lives in a unit across from where the stabbings occurred described the moment she woke up to screams with one of the victims knocking on her door for help.
“It was three ladies and all of them were screaming, like asking to call the police,” she said. “I saw that she had more than seven stabs -- one on her shoulder and the other one on her neck -- and she started asking for water and help.”
“I just heard the police telling him to put the knife down,” the woman added. “They said, ‘Let me see your hands,’ but he refused, and that’s when I heard the gunshots.”
Morales told Local 10 News that her cousin suffered from mental health issues and was known to abuse drugs.
“I never really felt comfortable being around him because of that,” she said.
As a grandmother and her granddaughter are now physically trying to recover, the family as a whole is devastated by the unexpected tragedy.
“There’s times where I am like, man, I wish they would’ve let him live because I wanted to hear what he had to say and what drove him to do that,” Morales said.
Rodriguez said the police shooting will be investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is the Hialeah Police Department’s protocol.
He said the stabbings also remain under investigation. A motive remains unclear.