Police say 2 are dead after apparent murder-suicide in Cape Coral

Police surrounded a home in Cape Coral after what police are calling an apparent murder-suicide that resulted in the death of two men.

Cape Coral police say they responded to a 911 hangup at a home on the 100 block of SE 13th Avenue around 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. SWAT team members were also surrounding the house.

Mike Mason lives in Cape Coral. “SWAT team was here running all over the place at least a dozen of them with assault rifles. And they had their tank vehicle with a machine gun on top pointed right at the front door,” said Mason.

JJ Schwarz said that’s how he knew something serious was happening. “We were like…something really going on here to have them running through my backyard,” Schwarz said.

Police said when they got to the home, a woman ran outside and told them there was a man inside with a gun. Police say immediately after that, they heard shots from inside the home. That’s when the SWAT team was called.

Cape police say one man was pronounced dead on the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound while another was taken to the hospital, where he died.

The woman was able to briefly escape to call 911. She left the call but didn’t hang up. Once officers arrived, the shots rang out. “I hear this bang bang bang,” Mason said.

Next, the SWAT team arrived and set up a perimeter. Part of that barrier stretched to Hancock Bridge Parkway.

Neighbors say they assumed the worst when they were told to stay away. “I don’t know if the guys running around the neighborhood with a gun. At the time, we didn’t know it was domestic,” said Schwarz.

Police say their investigation following the shooting leads them to believe that Adrian Hernandez-Martinez, 31, held the woman and a 50-year-old man in the home hostage for several hours before the woman was able to secretly call the police.

Cape Coral police say they believe the gunshots they heard immediately after their arrival was from Hernandez-Martinez, who killed the man he was holding hostage before turning the gun on himself.

“The whole scenario is just tragic sad. You know you never want to hear something like that happen, especially in your own neighborhood where you live. I mean, I’ll be a little uneasy for a couple of days to come just thinking about what happened,” said Mason.

Cape Coral police say they are still investigating this incident.