Mom kills her kids’ father as he’s picking them up from day care, FL cops say

A dad was picking up his children from day care when the kids’ mom fatally shot him and chased him into the day care, firing rounds as their children screamed, Florida authorities said.

The 34-year-old woman is charged with premeditated first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated child abuse, grand theft of a firearm and possession of ammunition or a weapon by a convicted felon, according to Bradford County court records.

McClatchy News is not identifying the mom to protect the identity of the children.

She surrendered at the scene and identified herself as the shooter, saying she killed him in self-defense, Bradford County deputies wrote in an arrest affidavit. But surveillance footage appears to show a different story, deputies said.

Day care staff and a witness called 911 at around 6 p.m. July 25 to report an active shooting as families were picking up their kids, according to an arrest affidavit.

Surveillance footage showed the 37-year-old dad pull up to the day care in Starke, park the car and head inside to pick up his two children, then the mom walked up to the building’s front door with a backpack, deputies said.

The mom hugged the kids outside as the dad loaded their items in the car and buckled them in, according to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies said surveillance footage showed the mom shut the back door and walk up to the dad as he got in the driver’s seat, then she reached into her backpack and pulled out a gun.

She shot him three times, backed up and shot him twice more, investigators said.

He got out of the car, screaming, as she chased him around the vehicle and shot at him again, with their kids sitting inside, according to deputies.

Footage showed he then ran inside the day care for cover but was trapped in the vestibule between the inside and outside doors, law enforcement said.

Six kids and two employees were still in the day care when the mom walked through the front door and fired off three more shots at the dad, deputies said.

A day care employee yelled someone was shooting, as another worker told deputies she heard a volley of gunshots and called 911, according to investigators.

In the surveillance recording, the dad could be heard moaning as his children screamed in the car, according to the affidavit. Investigators said the mom stopped shooting after the gun appeared to jam twice.

She walked back to the car and put the gun in the driver’s seat, then she could be heard saying, “Please let the monster die,” according to the affidavit.

She repeated the phrase as she opened the back door where the kids were sitting, according to the affidavit.

As the dad cried out for help, the mom walked back over to him and told him, “You got to die,” deputies wrote.

Around this time, another woman said she walked up to the day care and saw the dad lying on the floor bleeding.

She reported he reached out his hand and said, “Help me, please,” according to investigators.

By that point, multiple people had called 911, and law enforcement and paramedics arrived. The dad told deputies who had shot him, and the mom walked in front of the car and put her hands up, saying, “I’m right here y’all. I done it in self defense,” investigators wrote in the affidavit.

The dad died at a hospital about an hour after the incident, deputies said.

Investigators said they visited the mom’s roommate and learned she had stolen one of his guns without his knowledge, and he wanted to press charges.

Records show the mom was previously convicted in connection with a domestic violence situation involving another ex and child in 2020. She’s accused of dragging the child out of a wrecked vehicle and down the road before dropping the child on the ground while she was arguing with the man,according to an arrest report.

In 2024, the mom was seen on a video beating on the dad who she’s now accused of killing, but the charges were dropped.

The dad’s sister, Melanie Russo, told WJAX that law enforcement knew about the domestic violence between the couple, which went on even after their relationship ended.

“Nobody took it serious, and that’s devastating because of how it ended,” Russo told the outlet.

She said her brother’s ex struggled with mental health issues, and he sought help for her to no avail.

“He tried to get mental health support for the mother of his children,” Russo wrote on Facebook. “He held on with strength, compassion and hope — even when things grew darker. But the system failed him. It failed his boys. And now he’s gone.”

Starke is about a 45-mile drive southwest from Jacksonville.

This story was originally published July 29, 2025 at 12:21 PM with the headline "Mom kills her kids’ father as he’s picking them up from day care, FL cops say."