Authorities are investigating a triple murder involving a Florida man who was the subject of an Amber Alert issued to a young girl last weekend.
Nathan Gingles, 43, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder on February 16 after being accused of luring his 4-year-old daughter, Seraphine Gingles.
The girl was later found to be safe, but her mother, grandfather and neighbor were killed.
Authorities responded to a report of the shooting at their Tamarack, Florida home around 6am Sunday, where they discovered Seraphine's grandfather, 64-year-old David Ponser. He said in a press release.
Ponsar was declared dead at home.
As part of that investigation, police learned that the 4-year-old had been taken from his home and that a statewide amber alert had been issued to the public.
Law enforcement believed that she was taken to her father on a 2016 Silver BMW X3 with a Texas license plate and she was in danger.
Authorities also initially believed that Seraphine's mother, Mary Gingles, 34, was with them.
Hours after issuing the Amber Alert, detectives reported that they had discovered Nathan Gingle and his unharmed daughter just before 11am in North Lauderdale.
Nathan Gingles was initially arrested on charges of violating an injunction that he had no contact with her mother with her child.
Mary Gingles was found dead from a gunshot wound inside another Tamarack home on North Plum Bay Parkway.
And another man, 36-year-old Andrew Ferrin, was found dead in the same house, police said.
A Broward County Sheriff's Office dive team searched a nearby canal and found a gun that appears to be a weapon used in the crime, police said.
Gingles is being held at a major prison in Fort Lauderdale and faces three planned first-degree murders with guns. According to inmate records.
He is also faced with accusations of not having contact with the child or the mother of the child and violating an injunction related to obstructing the custody of a minor.
Ferrin was a neighbor, NBC6 reported, adding that when Ferrin answered the door and was shot, Mary was trying to get help.
“I can't imagine that,” Ferrin's uncle told the outlet. “There was a woman in the neighborhood, knocking on the actual door, and my nephew who was in the house happened to open the door for her.”
According to court records, Mary and Nathan Gingles had been divorced, and Nathan Gingles had been curbing domestic violence issued by two courts against him, according to the Miami Herald.
Seven Broward County Sheriff's Office deputies have taken leave after handling calls leading up to the Tamarack triple murder, Sheriff Gregory Tony announced at a press conference Wednesday.
In one incident, Mary called deputies in December and said her husband was threatening to kill her. Tony said the aides had spent more than 30 minutes responding and gathering information from Mary, and that there might be enough evidence to arrest the gums, but he didn't arrest him.
“We could have done more. …We're not moving away from holding us accountable,” Tony said at a news conference. “We are not just looking at isolated incidents. We have a robust list of all calls to services that occur at the site location either from the husband or from the wife. .”
According to the Miami Herald, Mary's divorce petition also states that Nathan is “a former military force and has high security clearance.”
“I don't want to lose faith in the masses,” Tony added at a press conference Wednesday. “When I fix this situation, I will send God's fears throughout this institution.”
The Broward County Public Defense Office, which the judge appointed to the case, did not immediately respond for comment on Jingle's behalf.
