A nurse practitioner and her pastor husband were killed in front of their home on Saturday, one week after being married, in a fatal shooting allegedly committed by the wife’s ex-husband, Florida authorities said.
Sony Josaphat, 46, was arrested and accused of premeditated murder with a firearm in connection to the death of his ex-wife, whose identity police have kept anonymous due to Marsy’s Law, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office announced.
The woman’s sister identified her sibling and her brother-in-law as the victims of the fatal shooting, according to local news outlet WPTV.
She told the outlet her sister’s children were inside the home at the time of the shooting.
According to court documents obtained by HuffPost, Josaphat’s daughter called 911 on Saturday to report that her father shot the couple outside their home.
Responding officers found the couple dead on the sidewalk with multiple gunshot wounds and told everyone who was inside the home to leave, police said.
Investigators who interviewed witnesses learned that Josaphat had not lived at the house for over a year, but would show up randomly and “had a history of being controlling.”
One witness told police that the husband was outside installing security cameras while his wife was taking groceries out of the trunk of her car when she noticed Josaphat approaching.
Josaphat then asked his ex-wife if two unnamed individuals were home. She ignored him and instead began walking to the front door while he followed, police said.
The witness told police that Josaphat eventually pulled out a pistol and shot the couple multiple times before fleeing the scene.
Josaphat turned himself in shortly after the shooting, and police said he confessed to killing his ex-wife and her new husband.
Josaphat allegedly told police he was taking his daughter to grab breakfast and became angry when he saw the couple outside their home, and proceeded to shoot them while his daughter witnessed, according to the document.
Josaphat also allegedly told officers that his ex-wife had been “disrespecting
him and blocked his phone calls,” since Oct. 5, the same date court records show their divorce was finalized.
The document also states that information he found out on Dec. 2 ― the date his ex got remarried ― “filled him with anger and he hasn’t been able to sleep.”
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