Background: A crime scene investigation at the scene of a suspected murder-suicide in Georgia on May 8, 2024 (via Gwinnett County Police). Inset: Carlos Rodriguez, Chadal Rodriguez and Arianny Rodriguez (via GoFundMe).
Three siblings are dead in what police are calling a murder-suicide after officers found their bodies — and the body of their mother’s ex-boyfriend — along a roadside just outside of Atlanta, Georgia.
The Gwinnett County Police said on Facebook that the suspected shooter of Arianny Arias Rodriguez, 13, Carlos Michelle Rodriguez, 9, and Chadal Rodriguez, 11 are dead was Jose Plascencia, 56, of Norcross, Georgia.
The children’s mother, Karina Rodriguez, agreed to let Plascencia, her ex, take the children “to grab a bite to eat” on May 8. She was at an area hospital with an injured child, who she shared with Plascencia, and agreed to stay there as he took the Rodriguez siblings for some food.
Police say the bodies were discovered near Lucky Shoals Park on Britt Road around 1 a.m. when police investigated a suspicious vehicle parked on a pedestrian trail.
“The officer called out to occupants but got no response. He approached the 4-door passenger car and found the bodies of four individuals inside,” police said.
All three children had been shot, with Plascencia appearing to have shot himself, police said.
In a message on GoFundMe, Rodriguez expressed her heartbreak over “the tragic loss of my three little angels.”
“I am devastated with my heart in pieces, my world was my children and I was mother and father to them so that they never lacked anything and they took the lives of my little angels from me,” she said.
Rodriguez says she will use the funds to give her children a burial in her home country of Dominican Republic.
An investigation is ongoing, though the suspected shooter is dead, police said.
For those experiencing domestic violence, calls to the National Domestic Violence Hotline are safe and confidential at 1-800-799-7233. You can also visit thehotline.org.
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