A domestic disturbance in Florida ended with the fatal shooting of a 32-year-old woman while her daughter was on a Zoom call for her first day of school, police in Martin County Florida said.
The suspect in the shooting, identified as Donald J. Williams, was taken into custody and faces charges of first-degree murder, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said during a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
Snyder said there were six children at the home in Indiantown, Florida during the time of the fatal shooting, including the victim's ten-year-old daughter who was in the middle of an online zoom class for Warfield Elementary School.
"The teacher's online — I've never done a Zoom with children, so I'm picturing there's other children on — and the teacher can see the children. The teacher said she heard a commotion, heard profanity," he said. "Realized there was some type of domestic altercation. Still could see the child that's online. The teacher said she mutes her button so nobody has to hear it and then she sees the 10-year-old put her hands up to her ears."
"Almost immediately after the child put her hands up to her ears, the computer screen went blank. We know the computer was hit with a projectile," Snyder added.
Investigators believe an argument broke out between Williams and the girl's mother, identified as Maribel Rosado-Morales.
"He went in and confronted her with something to do with a video," said Synder. "And then later we learned there was a conversation about Facebook. He said she actually started to smile at him and he became enraged and shot her."
Rosado-Morales, 32, was shot multiple times. She was taken to a local hospital where she died of her injuries. None of the children present at the scene were injured.
Snyder said that following the shooting, Williams fled the scene, but he was later arrested after a bus driver became suspicious after Williams asked to go to a local where the bus did not travel to.
Sheriff's deputies found and arrested Williams after the bus driver called 911. A gun was found in a bag on the bus.
Williams later made a "full confession" the sheriff said. It's unclear whether Williams has been assigned an attorney.
A spokesperson for Martin County School District said, "Our deepest sympathies and condolences go out to the family and children who were witnesses to this heartbreaking and senseless tragedy."