Cape Coral Police: Couple die in murder-suicide during exchange of custody of children

The Cape Coral Police Department has revealed that a domestic dispute turned into a murder-suicide involving a woman and a man who later killed himself.

The couple has not been identified pending the notification of both parties’ next of kin, said Mercedes Phillips, a police spokesperson, at a news conference Wednesday.

Phillips said this happened during an exchange of custody of the couple’s children at around 9:20 a.m.

“They were exchanging children,” she said. “She went back to the house to get something. She came back out. We’re not sure what exchange happened, but from there, he shot her.”

The man then drove off with the children but encountered firefighters who were nearby.

“He had expressed that he wanted to kill himself,” said Phillips. “He dropped the kids off with the firefighters, and then he drove down the street.”

The children, whose ages were not revealed, were not physically hurt and are safe in the custody of their family at this time.

There was a heavy police presence on Del Prado Boulevard in Cape Coral earlier in the day at the scene, where someone shot video of the police response.

According to Phillips, the suspect shot himself while speaking with an officer, causing the car he was in to roll into a canal.

Police converged on the vehicle as it began to roll down an embankment and toward a canal.

They believe the man was already dead when they attempted to stop the vehicle from rolling.

The woman was transported to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.