A U.S. Coast Guard serviceman killed his wife, one of his children, and then turned the gun on himself, according to reports. His 8-year-old daughter is fighting for her life in a hospital after she was shot, reports say.
His wife was identified as 39-year-old Gretchen Presnar, and his children haven’t yet been identified.
“According to investigators, [Presnar] and his wife were involved in a domestic dispute that escalated into a shooting,” police said. “When [Presnar] started shooting, his wife told her mother to run out of the house and call for help.”
The incident took place in Miami at 12:41 a.m. on Dec. 16, said police. After he shot his wife, Presnar turned the gun on his children before shooting himself.
“When the subject started shooting, his wife told her mother to run out of the house and call for help,” police told the Herald. “Once uniformed officers arrived, they entered the home and discovered the wife and their 7-year-old son deceased from apparent gunfire. The subject was found deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. “
The Coast Guard said it extends its condolences to the family.
“The Coast Guard is deeply saddened by this tragedy and our hearts go out to the family members of those who were killed,” Kelley told the Herald. “We continue to pray for and offer the full support of the Coast Guard to the young child fighting for her life.”
The shooting occurred on the 11400 block of Southwest 242nd Lane in Southwest Miami-Dade. Other details are not clear.
Violent Crime Down?
The FBI said that both violent crime and property crime decreased in 2017 compared to 2016. Overall violent crime decreased 0.2 percent from 2016 to last year, while property crime decreased 3 percent during that time, the agency said in September, releasing data from the previous year.“There were more than 1.2 million violent crimes reported to UCR nationwide in 2017. There was a 0.7 percent decrease in murders and a 4 percent decrease in robberies from 2016 to 2017. Aggravated assaults increased 1 percent in 2017. The FBI began collecting data solely on an updated rape definition last year, and 135,755 rapes were reported to law enforcement in 2017,” the FBI said in its report.
“The report also showed there were more than 7.7 million property crimes last year. Burglaries decreased 7.6 percent and larceny-thefts decreased 2.2 percent. Motor vehicle thefts increased 0.8 percent from 2016 to 2017.”
These figures were compiled from more than 13,000 law enforcement agencies around the United States that submitted their crime data to the FBI.