Cincinnati police are investigating a murder-suicide that has left three family members dead just months after another murder-suicide of two other relatives.

According to LEX 18 News, 19-year-old Eric Johnson Jr. shot his mother, Darlene Flores, 38, and his 16-year-old brother Rodrigo Johnson before turning the gun on himself. This tragedy happened less than six months after Flores’ ex-husband shot their 6-year-old daughter in a murder-suicide.

The outlet reports around 5:30 a.m. on Monday, the Cincinnati Police Department responded to a call about “unknown trouble” at the household. It possibly came from Johnson’s friends, who claimed they received a startling call from him a few minutes earlier to say “he loved them and he was sorry.”

Once they arrived, police found “three unresponsive victims suffering from gunshot wounds.”

The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office confirmed the deaths of Flores and her 16-year-old son as homicides and Johnson’s a suicide.

The Cincinnati police shared a statement on Twitter regarding the shooting.

Please see flyer reference a recent homicide investigation. Anyone with additional information, please contact our Homicide Unit at 513-352-3542. pic.twitter.com/Bu0tcJsccg
— Cincinnati Police Department (@CincyPD) February 3, 2023

Tweet Courtesy of @CincyPD

Neighbors reacted to the tragedy by acknowledging how loving and welcoming the family was.

A family friend, Robert Davis, told WLWT News he “dropped to the floor” when he received the call. “Most of us in the neighborhood have single mothers. So, they raised us. Miss Darlene, she was very sweet, like another mother. Took us in. Anything that we needed or asked for, they always gave it to us. And they taught us life lessons and stuff.”

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