Submitted by Fox First at Ten on November 16th
By MARIA SUDEKUMAssociated Press
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) - Three men broke into a house in a Kansas City suburb early Friday and fatally shot a woman, her son and her boyfriend, police said. A fourth victim was critically injured.
No motive has been established for the shooting at the small home in Independence, but police Capt. John Cato said it was not a random act.
"This was an armed attempted residential robbery," Cato said. "They probably knew or at least were associated with one another."
Cato identified the dead as 48-year-old Maria Hernandez; her boyfriend, Thomas Madrigal; and Hernandez's 20-year-old son, Antonio. The fourth person was not identified.
The shootings were reported around 4:30 a.m., and a search for suspects continued Friday afternoon. At least two of the suspects could be armed, Cato said.
Authorities could be seen removing one body in a silver bag from the house shortly before 3 p.m. Friday and a second one about an hour later.
Neighbors said Hernandez and the other occupants had moved in this past year.
Authorities weren't certain Friday how many people lived in the house. Cato said the family may have included up to six children, but that some may be grown and living elsewhere.
Claudette Henson, a neighbor, said she recently saw Maria Hernandez at a football game in which one of Hernandez's younger sons was playing. Hernandez was wearing the boy's jersey.
"She seemed like a very sweet lady, just the way she was interacting with her kids and how she was there to support her little one at the game," Henson said. "They were good kids, never caused any problems."
Henson's husband, Darryl Henson, said the family's children were often seen in the neighborhood and appeared well behaved.
"I was very surprised when I heard," he said.
Kirsti Rubino, who lives in the house behind the crime scene, said she heard "banging" sounds around 4:30 a.m. Friday and went outside to see a half-dozen police officers looking around with flashlights.
Rubino said she had met one of the residents, a girl she believed to be about 11 years old. That girl was friends with another neighbor, Rubino said, adding that she was not sure the occupants spoke English.
"There were always cars back there," Rubino said of the occupants. "They would come at night and leave at night but they never did anything that would warrant attention.'"
A search of online court records in Jackson County, where Independence and Kansas City are located, did not yield any criminal records that appeared to match any of the three people killed.
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