Children Injured In Weekend Shooting Remain In ICU
NORTH MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) - Three North Miami Beach children who were shot over the weekend by their mother's boyfriend remain in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital's Intensive Care Unit.
North Miami Beach Police said the shooting happened late Saturday when Evelina Jack Saintil, who was six to eight weeks pregnant, got into a fight with her live-in boyfriend, Mark Glinton, 37, about alleged infidelities. As the fight escalated Glinton, who worked as a security guard, drew his gun and started shooting. According to the children, he first shot Saintil and then opened fire on them.
Investigators said Quentin Jack, 13, seems to be in the worst condition out of all of the kids. He is paralyzed from the chest down after he used his body to shield his two year old brother Kristian from the gunfire. Quentin took a bullet in his back for the toddler.
"Thank God my son, (and) all of them are alive," said Wils Dorleus through tears streaming down his face. Dorleus' son, Xavier Jack, 11, managed to survive the shooting in his own clever way, by playing dead after he had been shot twice in the stomach and the side. Despite his injuries, Xavier managed to get up and run to a neighbor's home to call police.
When the cops arrived the shooting was still going on in the home at 1530 NE 151 Terrace in North Miami Beach.
Police said Ashley Jack, 14, saw some of the worst of it
"(She) went into the room and saw her mother had been shot and asked the offender you know what are doing and the offender said it has nothing to do with you. I love you guys it has to do with your mother and then he shot her." said Detective Michael Stein of the Miami Beach Police Department.
Even Kristian Jack, 2, saw more than any toddler should see. His father said a bullet grazed him but he is fine, the only sibling not hospitalized.
At this point, Ashley is the only child who knows that her mother is dead. Family members don't want to tell the boys because they are in such critical condition at this point.
"He keep asking me about his mom.... I can't... I can't tell him," said Xavier's dad, Wils Dorleus.
It's a tragedy that has even hit seasoned law enforcement officials hard. North Miami Beach Police Chief Raphael Hernandez Jr. said he's been working in the field for nearly 40 years. "It's one of the most horrific incidents that we've seen," he said.
Detectives also said this might have been prevented. In 1994 and 1995 Glinton was arrested for domestic violence.
Investigators said at the time of the massacre on Saturday, Glinton was still married to another woman. They said that woman called Jack Saintil to warn her that he was violent. Beyond those red flags, police said the children told them Glinton would hit them and their mother.
The case has troubled detectives as the North Miami Beach Police Department, moving them to begin to collect toys for the children's Christmas gifts.
If others would like to help in that effort police said to call them at the North Miami Beach Police Department.
CBS4 reporter Sharrie Williams contributed to this report
