Triple homicide-suicide in Ponce: sex offender kills partner and friend
A man convicted of indecent acts murdered his consensual partner and a mutual friend inside a vehicle in Ponce, then took his own life after barricading himself in his residence.
Convicted man kills two people in Ponce and takes his own life following confrontation with police
A man with a criminal history of sexual offences murdered his consensual partner and a mutual friend inside a parked car in front of his residence in the Sombras Real neighbourhood in Ponce on Sunday night, before shooting himself, according to primerahora.com.
Authorities received an alert through the 9-1-1 Emergency System at 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, initially prompted by a report of a woman shot.
"When the uniformed officers arrive, the individual is armed on the second floor of the residence and fires several shots at the agents; the agents return fire. The man barricades himself in the residence. They inspect a vehicle parked in front of the residence and observe that there are two bodies," Daniel Justiniano, inspector and director of the Criminal Investigation Unit (CIC) of Ponce, explained to primerahora.com.
A femicide protocol was activated and a negotiator was requested along with the S.W.A.T. team to attempt to persuade the assailant, identified as Rey Luis Torres Roche, 39 years old, to surrender. Torres Roche repeatedly refused, indicating that he would not return to prison and had no intention of serving a sentence, before shooting himself.
Torres Roche had been sentenced in February 2024 to nine years on probation in a case of indecent acts against a minor under 16 years of age and was listed on the Sexual Offenders Registry.
The bodies of Jazmine Rivera Roca, 47 years old, and Gerardo Santiago Santiago, 49 years old, were found inside a white Suzuki Aerio, owned by Rivera Roca. Justiniano detailed that the three individuals had known each other since childhood and were accustomed to going out together.
"They grew up with him. They grew up together and according to what has emerged in the interviews that have been conducted, they always went out to spend time together. He (Gerardo) was godfather to the deceased," the inspector stated.
In the Police information system, there was no record of any complaint for domestic violence or protection orders related to the assailant.
Agent Danny Valentín Rivera, of the Homicide Division of Ponce, and prosecutor Alexandra Aulet Morales investigated the scene.
The same neighbourhood was the site of another femicide in June 2019, when Lourdes del Carmen Cuevas Natal, a 42-year-old medical technologist, was stabbed to death by her ex-partner Javier José Acevedo Rodríguez.
According to preliminary Police statistics, 32 women have been murdered in Puerto Rico so far this year, ten of them in incidents of domestic violence. In the same period of the previous year, 37 femicides had been recorded on the island. With the two murders tonight, the total number of homicides over the weekend rises to nine.
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This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is at risk, seek help by calling the PAS Line at 1-800-981-0023 or 9-1-1. Victims of gender-based violence can contact the Office of the Procurator for Women at 787-722-2977. In the United States, the crisis line is available by calling or texting 988.
Source: Google News PR — Crime