PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Loved ones and neighbors have been left searching for answers following a fatal domestic shooting in Pembroke Park.
Authorities still can’t explain why Stephen McKenzie opened fire, allegedly shooting and killing Julie Cruz, a 32-year-old mother of four, and also shooting her four young children before turning the gun on himself.
Richard Rainey, who lives a few doors down from their unit off West Hallandale Beach Boulevard, says he saw McKenzie, 34, doing laundry less than an hour before the shots rang out.
“They seemed real nice,” said Rainey. “They were always together, that’s what trips me out. I don’t know what set him off. “The officer said, ‘The guy must have snapped.’”
Rainey said he heard several shots down the hall and ran to their unit, saw the blood and saw Cruz and McKenzie on the floor.
What he didn’t realize was four children were also shot.
Two of the children, only 2 years old, and an 11-year-old were pronounced dead along with their mother.
An 8-year-old survived, along with McKenzie, who was injured.
A GoFundMe page was created to help with costs associated with Xion and Phiinyx Solomon, and it can be found by clicking here.
Reporters’ notes after speaking to law enforcement sources
- Six people were shot: A father, a mother, and four children. The father and a girl survived.
- The mother fatally shot was Julie Cruz and the children killed were Nova, Emery, and Xion.
- The biological father of 2-year-olds Nova and Emery McKenzie was the shooter who attempted to kill himself.
- Cruz’s 8-year-old daughter Phiinyx Solomon survived. She is Xion’s sister and the toddlers’ half-sister.
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