SAN JUAN — A man in southwestern Puerto Rico fatally shot his former girlfriend and two members of her family before killing himself, police said.
The incident occurred late on Wednesday in the coastal town of Yauco, where the bodies of the man’s former girlfriend, 30, her brother, 28 and their mother, 51, were found inside a house in different rooms.
Police said they later found the body of 33-year-old Wilfredo Hiram Santiago Figueroa, who is suspected of killing the three, at his brother’s home in the same town.
Police told local media that Santiago, who worked as a welder, had a criminal record involving previous unrelated cases of domestic violence, and that the former girlfriend he killed had a restraining order against him.
Police said the former girlfriend, Linnette Morales, has two young children who were not home at the time of the shooting.
Santiago Figueroa, who was a resident of the Burén sector, in the Sierra Alta neighborhood, once again violated a restraining order when he arrived at the house of his ex-partner Linnette Morales Vázquez, a veterinary assistant student, with whom he had had a relationship.
The relationship lasted only eight months. In September they separated and in January they reignited their romance briefly.
PSYCHO SHOOTER: Wlfredo Hiram Santiago Figueroa, deceased
The manual laborer harassed her incessantly. On Three Kings Day, Santiago Figueroa broke into her house at night and threatened her with death.
She immediately filed a report against him for violating the protective order she had obtained just four months earlier. He was charged and booked, and then released on bail while he was awaiting trial.
He fatally shot Linnette with a Glock handgun. She was the mother of his 10-year-old son and a 14-year-old teenager, who were not at home.
He also shot to death Lizzette Vázquez Vélez, 51, an employee of School Dining Halls, owner of the house where Linnette was, and the young woman’s brother, Luis Miguel Morales Vázquez, 28, who worked as a counselor. at the Mental Health and Addiction Services Administration (Assmca).
The victims were relatives of an assistant to Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi.
Wilfredo Hiram left the place and went to the house of one of his brothers, where he entered, cut the power to the house, then turned the Glock on himself and took his own life.
HOW THE MASSACRE HAPPENED – ROOM BY ROOM – HOUSE BY HOUSE
Upon arriving at the scene, police officers found the bodies of Linnette Morales Vázquez, 30 years old, murdered in the patio of the residence on the ground; her brother Luis Miguel Morales Vázquez, 28 years old and murdered in the kitchen; and her mother, Lizette Vázquez Vélez, 51, murdered in her bedroom. Officers observed bullet holes on all three of their bodies.
Santiago Figueroa had previous cases of violence against women, arson, reckless endangerment and a history of mistreating animals — prior to the killing of his girlfriend and relatives, the Puerto Rico police commissioner said.
Morales Vázquez did everything she could possibly do — under the law — to protect herself and her family from being brutally murdered by Santiago Figueroa, the police commissioner added.
