A 5 year old child is in the Loma Luz hospital in Cayo recovering from gunshot wounds, but there is no mother or father by his bedside one is dead, and the other, dying.
That's the result of a dramatic murder and then a suicide attempt that happened yesterday evening in Santa Elena town.
Police say that just before 7:00 pm, 52 year old Juan Dorado shot his common law wife, 32 year old Delia Cruz in the stomach with a pump action shotgun. He strode up to their home on Loma Luz Boulevard in Santa Elena where they lived with three children, pulled out the shotgun, and shot her as she sat in a chair on the verandah – as seen in these pictures courtesy the Cayo Star newspaper.
Their 5 year old son was standing up beside her, and the child was hit in the leg by a stray pellet from the blast to his mother.
Alvarado then walked back into his van, sat in the driver’s seat and shot himself in the head.
With her 5 year old son looking on, Cruz died within minutes, while Dorado somehow survived the massive gunshot. Police found him lying unconscious in his vehicle.
Police spoke to neighbors who say that the two were having a jealous dispute and that's why dorado shot her.
And while Dorado survived what police say is a suicide attempt, he is barely clinging to life at the intensive care unit of the KHMH’s private ward. According to medical chief of staff, Dr. Fernando Cuellar, his prognosis is grim.
Dr. Fernando Cuellar, Medical Chief Of Staff, KHMH
“He suffered severe head injury as result of a gunshot to the head which destroyed a lot of brain matter. The neurosurgeon performed surgery this morning to remove some blood that was there, but there was severe swelling to the entire brain. There definitely is a lot of brain destruction caused by the bullet.”
Jules Vasquez,
“Would you be able to say where that gunshot entered his skull?”
Dr. Fernando Cuellar,
“It entered the right side around the temple area as we commonly know it.
Unfortunately Mr. Dorado's prognosis is very poor and we expect him not to survive.”
The child is in stable condition at the Loma Luz Hospital. He is being tended to by relatives of his mother.
His 52 year old father, was a well known teacher and a career employee of nova shrimp farm where he worked for over two decades before retiring.