Police: Miami Lakes Father Kills Children Ages 12 & 9 Before Turning Gun On Self

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A family tragedy in Miami Lakes after a man reportedly shot his two children before turning the gun on himself.

Police said Humberto Tovar, 41, picked up his children, 12-year-old daughter Baleria and 9-year-old son Matias, earlier in the day.

According to a senior law enforcement source, the father had taken the children to dinner, and while at dinner the mother called him to see when he would be bringing the kids home. The father was upset over their separation and began saying to her over and over again, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I have to do this." She asked him what he meant, and he again said he was sorry for what he was going to do and hung up on her.

When she went to the father's home in the 6400 block of Miami Lakes Drive she found all three dead in the area of a lake bank, according to police.

Magda Pena said she heard a woman screaming for help.

"When I got out of the shower, I heard the lady screaming," she said. "I just opened the door and I ran."

She said she found the woman and the bodies near a lake.

"When I got there, I started doing compressions and I told my son to call 911, and I was just doing the compressions," said Pena. "She's like please don't stop, they're alive. But they were already (shook her head)."

She also said, "I saw gun there right next to the dad's body. I saw the gun. I also saw the mother trying to do CPR on her children. She was doing compressions on both of them. The I saw her cursing at the husband. She was cursing at him in Spanish.  I was in shock for a good hour. I think I cried for an hour and I was just shaking."

The senior law enforcement source also told CBS4's Jim DeFede that the gun the father used was stolen from a coworker on Tuesday. The coworker went to the Aventura Police Department to report that his gun was stolen. In the Aventura police report, it notes that the father confessed to his coworker that he had taken the gun saying, "He had to take it and that he was sorry, but he needed a gun."

It is not known if the family had a history with DCF.

CBS4 News spoke to the mother of Tovar, but did not want to speak on-camera.

Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid posted on Twitter that he was saddened this happened in their town.

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• Shooting