Police: 3 Kids Left Outside Md. Restaurant After Father Kills Wife
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Police are investigating an apparent murder-suicide in which a man is believed to have killed his wife, then dropped his three children off at a restaurant, before killing himself.
WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren had an exclusive interview with the family who found the children and called 911. The family said they were out to celebrate a birthday and it turned into a night they will never forget.
"That's when we heard somebody saying 'Hey, excuse me, do me a favor and take these kids," Karen Palmer said.
She says the man was frantic when he pulled in front of the Red Lobster restaurant at Arundel Mills in Hanover. "We were stunned," she told Hellgren, describing how she watched him push his three children from his pickup truck and drive off.
"Then he said, I am serious. Take these kids. Call 911," Palmer said.
She'll never forget what one of the kids told her. "My dad just shot my mom in the head and killed her with a revolver," Palmer recalls him saying. "The 911 operator asked me to ask them if they saw it happen. I didn't want to ask, but I did, and they said, 'Yes, we did.'"
Jacob Palmer was also outside the restaurant and says one of the children had blood on his shirt. He helped comfort the 7-year-old twins and a 6-year old. "We were just there at the right time. I hope somebody else would have done the same thing," he said. "I'll always carry a piece of them with me."
Police identified the man as 35-year-old Harry Anthony Rey, the children's father.
Police began investigating just before 6 p.m. Wednesday, after officers were called about a welfare check for a person in the 10600 block of Davis Ave. in Baltimore County.
Responding officers found the body of 28-year-old Amber Lynne Cox.
Officers later found the Rey, dead inside his truck parked in the 7600 block of Sandy Farm Rd. in Severn.
Rey had an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police.
Police say Rey killed Cox, his wife, only a short time before his drive to the restaurant. That murder happened at the family's mobile home in Woodstock, about 20 miles from the Arundel Mills Red Lobster.
Corporal Shawn Vinson told Hellgren that Cox was shot with at least one bullet but said an autopsy still needs to be completed. He also said police were looking at prior domestic calls to the home.
"The tragic thing about this case, too, is there were children involved," Corporal Vinson said.
Two neighbors say police had recently been called to the property and they heard fighting.
Neighbor George Brill describes Rey as a stay-at-home dad and a "caring father. It's too bad he couldn't think of a better way to resolve his problems with his wife," Brill said. "You never know what's going on behind closed doors."
Palmer remains haunted by the encounter. "Those kids will never forget what they saw, " she said. "Hopefully, it doesn't define their life."
She said the father left his now-orphaned children with a note that included the names of close relatives and phone numbers.
The three children, a six-year-old and seven-year-old twins, were not injured, and have been released into the custody of family.
"Ever since this happened, we've been thinking about those kids," Palmer said.
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