A woman and her mother are dead after a shooting in Fort Myers, Florida on Thursday morning, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
Ethan Cartwright has been arrested and charged in their killing.
According to Cartwright’s arrest report, he killed his girlfriend and her mother. Cartwright’s girlfriend was the mother of his children, both of whom were in the house during the shooting. According to LCSO, the children were covered in blood splatter when deputies arrived, though they were both unharmed.
In an interview after the shooting, one child said they heard their grandmother yell, “James, no!” before Cartwright shot and killed her inside the home.
The other child was too shaken to be interviewed.
The arrest report also details surveillance cameras from a nearby home catching the chaos outside the family’s home. Cartwright could be seen chasing his girlfriend down the street before shooting and killing her. He’s then seen casually walking back to the home.
A friend of Cartwright’s received a text message from Cartwright, with a photo of one of the women, along with a confession that he’d killed her.
Cartwright admitted to detectives he killed both women. According to Cartwright, he “blacked out” during the shooting and felt badly for what he’d done.
Cartwright is facing two homicide charges, two counts of aggravated child abuse, and a fifth charge for shooting into a home.
Authorities responded to the scene around 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning, according to the San Carlos Park Fire Department.
According to Cartwright’s arrest report, multiple callers reported hearing fighting inside the home and then gunshots. Another caller reported two small children inside the home ran out of the house and to a neighbor’s.
One of the women was found in the kitchen of the home and another was found across the street both dead from apparent gunshot wounds.
Cartwright barricaded himself in the bedroom of the home and deputies said he surrendered peacefully after negotiations with investigators.
The victims were identified as 30-year-old Ann Mureille Fleury and 56-year-old Jeanne Pierre Charles Andre.
One of the women died on the front porch of a home right across the street, said the man, Rico, who lives inside.
Rico didn’t want to show his face but said he was home Thursday morning when all of a sudden there was a loud knock on his door. Moments after he heard gunshots.
“Heard some screaming and stuff, knocking and I know we just heard some shots,” he said. “Pretty much opened the door and there’s a dead body right there.”
Rico said that a dead woman was lying in a pool of blood.
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