Mom kills baby where husband proposed after he asked for divorce, Florida officials say

A woman shot and killed her 5-month-old son at the place where her husband proposed after he asked her for a divorce, Florida prosecutors said.

Maria Rodriguez-Barnes shot herself too, but she survived to stand trial in Okaloosa County, where she was found guilty of premeditated murder June 5, records show.

Her attorney declined to comment to McClatchy News.

On the morning of March 25, 2020, 30-year-old Rodriguez-Barnes packed her son in her truck and drove to The Boardwalk, a strip of beach-side restaurants and shops in Fort Walton Beach, according to an arrest report from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

In the parking lot, she shot her son, Jaxxon Rodriguez-Barnes, once in the chest, then she shot herself in the chest as well, deputies said.

A witness called the police after finding the mom “lying on the ground, rolling from side-to-side in what appeared to be blood.”

A deputy asked her what happened, and she said she couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t say anything about her son until a deputy searching for the gun found the child on the floorboard of the truck, slumped over a pillow, according to law enforcement.

Prosecutors said the evidence showed the child’s death was premeditated.

Rodriguez-Barnes left a note in the console of the truck, and in one of her last phone conversations with her husband before the incident, she said, “I’m sorry for what I’m about to do,” prosecutor Michelle Sandler said in court.

The woman also sent messages to family members about her plan earlier that morning, officials said.

A jury convicted Rodriguez-Barnes of murder June 5, and she will serve life in prison for the charge, WEAR-TV reported. Rodriguez-Barnes is now 35.

Fort Walton Beach is in the Florida Panhandle.

This story was originally published June 7, 2024 at 11:20 AM with the headline "Mom kills baby where husband proposed after he asked for divorce, Florida officials say."