Police ID woman killed in apparent murder-suicide

Neighbors hear gunfire; Jacksonville Sheriff's Office finds man, woman dead

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man and woman were shot and killed Thursday morning inside a unit at Silver Creek Apartments, off Atlantic Boulevard just before Southside Boulevard, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office identified the woman killed as Madelin Hernandez, 42, and said suspects the deaths were a murder suicide. The man found dead has not been named.

Neighbors called police just before 10 a.m. after hearing an argument, then gunfire. Officers found a Hispanic woman and black man dead inside one of the apartments.

JSO homicide Sgt. Jay Farhat said officers found a weapon, but they were waiting for a search warrant to process the apartment for evidence.

"It is very early on in the investigation, so we are not exactly sure what occurred," Farhat said. "There are some indications that are leading us to believe that it could possibly be a murder-suicide, however, we have not confirmed that at this point in time."

The victims' names were not released at the scene, but the woman's daughter told News4Jax that her mother's ex-boyfriend came over, knocked on the door, shot her, then turned the gun on himself. She said her mother was 43 years old and had three children.

One neighbor said she heard three gunshots coming from the apartment.

"In between the first and second one, I heard somebody yell," said the woman who was too afraid to give her name. "That's all I heard."

Family, friends and neighbors of the woman killed stood together in shock while police gathered evidence.

"It's really sad," resident Rozhin Arif said. "I mean, especially to see that her brother and sister and everybody is out here. My condolences go out to the family. It hurts."

This was the first murder-suicide case the Sheriff's Office has investigated this year. There were four in northeast Florida last year. 


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Lifetime Jacksonville resident anchors the 8 and 9 a.m. weekday newscasts and is part of the News4Jax I-Team.