Cops release video of masked intruders in Florida double murder
SARASOTA, Fla. -- Police have released video of three masked gunmen who they suspect shot and killed Kantral Brooks and his girlfriend Ester Deneus during a home invasion early Thursday morning, reports CBS affiliate WTSP.
The couple's five children, ages 1 to 11, were sleeping in the home during the murders, but were not harmed.
Bradenton Police were reportedly alerted by the alarm company before 4 a.m. Police say intruders threw a brick through the front door windows, shot Brooks, 29, near the door, and Deneus, 29, by the couch.
"They were quiet and they were reserved...they took care of their own life," said next door neighbor Margaret Larman.
"Ester loved her kids. She was a mother of five. She worked. She was a good woman," said Bree White, Deneus's friend.
Police say the couple moved into the home across from an elementary school last August with their five kids. The landlord, Ludmila Narins, told WTSP that the four older children were Deneus's, and the youngest was the couple's together.
Narins says the couple told her they picked the house because it was a safe place to raise their family.
Lt. James Racky with the Bradenton police says, "These kids -- if they saw anything -- it's going to be very traumatic for them. Kids will need their family's strength, they need to know that their family is there for them, they will need their support."
Police reportedly say the oldest did see something: 3 to 4 masked intruders. They also believe that the children may know more than they realize and are questioning some of them in the hope that they might help lead them to the murderers.