A couple was shot dead by intruders early Thursday morning with their five children in the house during a home invasion in Bradenton, Fla., according to the Bradenton Police Department, The Bradenton Herald reported.
The children were unharmed and one of them told investigators that three to five masked intruders shot the couple and left the house.
It is still not known if any of the other kids saw anything when Esther Deneus, 29, and her partner Kantral Markeith Brooks, 29, were murdered in their home in the 3900 block of Southern Parkway West, which is across the street from an elementary school.
Police arrived at the scene at 3:50 a.m. after an alarm monitoring company alerted them. The windows on the double front doors were broken inward and Brooks' body was found just inside the doors and Deneus' body was lying in the hallway behind him, said Bradenton police spokesman, Lt. James Racky, according to the Sun Herald.
Officers also found five children in the house ages between one and 11. The owner of the rented house, Ludmila Narina, said the oldest four belonged to Deneus from a previous marriage, while the youngest was the couple's child.
The children have been placed in the custody of Child Protective Services, where they will receive support from grief counselors, according to New York Daily News.
The security cameras in the house show three people approaching the front door of the house, one of them throwing a brick through the glass on the door after which all three suspects enter the home pointing guns.
