Florida police are searching for a man they say used a machete to kill his 10-year-old daughter and his wife of 10 years, who had made it clear that she wanted to leave him.
“You planned to kill her on her birthday,” Ashley Anderson, an adult daughter of Harris’, alleged about the suspect, reportsThe Miami Herald. “To come home and be killed after a good day of having fun — please, just give yourself up.”
“If he can do that to his own daughter, his own wife, this is not a man,” she said. “This is a monster.”
Lorrice Harris.
Miami Gardens apartments where the murders occurred.
Harris’ daughter Shanalee Chambers, 29, was also injured, but she survived the attack.
Shanalee Chambers.
At the news conference, the Miami Herald reports that Harris’ relatives said they had not previously observed any physical abuse from Chambers, though they portrayed him as controlling at times. He was also an apparent source of tension between Harris and her family, including a recently resolved yearlong rift between Harris and her mother. The couple were married in Jamaica and Harris had helped Chambers migrate to the U.S. afterward, they said.
Harris told her husband that their marriage was over just a few days before she was killed, they said.
“We believe the trigger was she wanted a divorce from him,” Harris’ brother, Ernie Saunders, said at the news conference.
Noel Chambers.
Police announced a reward up to $3,000 for the suspect’s capture and said he would be charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage?Click hereto get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
“If you are knowingly harboring this guy, you’re just as bad as him,” said Miami Gardens Police Chief Delma Noel-Pratt at the news conference, where he joined the Harris family and Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert.
“If you did this, there is no place for you to hide,” said the mayor, addressing Chambers. “You’re not one of us. It’s a matter of humanity. This cannot be allowed to stand. He has to get caught.”
source: people.com
