Florida Double-Murder: Man Shoots Wife, Son To Death, Opens Fire At Another Man

A 59-year-old Florida man shot his wife and son to death at their home on Sunday (June 21).

According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, around 1:15 a.m. Sunday, deputies responding to a report of shooting arrived at a home on 11600 block of Darlington Drive near John Young Parkway. They found a man and woman lying in a pool of blood with what appeared to be gunshot wounds.

According to the Orange County Fire and Rescue, the victims, 56-year-old Jodie Rivera and her 21-year-old son, Matthew Rivera, were pronounced dead at the scene.

A preliminary investigation revealed that Smith Rivera fatally shot his wife and son. The arrest report also states that Smith opened fire at an unidentified third person who managed to escape without injuries.

The motive behind the shooting was unclear. No information was available as to if Smith owned the gun legally.

According to reports, Smith’s sister, whose identity was not disclosed, said he has been under depression due to the coronavirus pandemic. She told WESH 2 News that the third person who escaped the scene was the couple’s other son.

Smith, a father-of-three, was taken into custody. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm and one count of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm.

This was an ongoing investigation and no further information was available at the time.

In another incident reported from Florida earlier this month, a Polk County man who stabbed his mother was shot to death by a deputy. The man, identified as 36-year-old Phillip Dibenedetto, asked his mother where she kept the coffee in the house, and when she turned around to point out, he stabbed her in the chest. While the responding deputies tried to take him into custody, Dibenedetto reached for his gun and shot at a deputy. The deputy returned fire, fatally striking Dibenedetto.

In a May 7 incident, a 17-year-old boy in Florida stabbed his brother to death before attacking his father with the same knife. The 14-year-old boy was pronounced dead at the scene. The father suffered serious stab injuries and was later airlifted to a hospital in Miami.