Cincinnati police have identified three people found dead inside a home in Avondale on Friday morning. Police responded around 5:30 a.m. to a home in the 3600 block of Canyon Drive for a report of “unknown trouble.”Upon arrival, officers discovered three people suffering from gunshot wounds. All three victims were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The victims have been identified as 38-year-old Darlene Flores and her two sons, 19-year-old Eric Johnson Jr., and 16-year-old Rodrigo Johnson.
Cincinnati Police Department’s Homicide Unit is investigating the incident as a double homicide with a suicide. WLWT spoke with two 18-year-old men who said their best friend is one of the victims. “It’s hard I just saw him last night, we were literally with him last night; I said bye to him before I left out and went home,” one of the men said. “I can’t process it doesn’t seem real, yet I can’t. It all just happened so fast. This is my second family. We spent Christmas together. We had matching outfits together and took family pictures together like this was really like a second family.”
The friends said they woke up to a concerning and eerie text from their friend and came over immediately to find the massive police presence. An investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about this homicide is asked to call the Homicide Unit at (513) 352-3542. In August of last year, the family suffered another tragedy after 6-year-old Iyla Johnson was killed by her father, Eric, in a murder-suicide following a custody dispute.
According to police, the situation began when two officers tried to resolve a custody issue by getting Eric Johnson to return his 6-year-old daughter, Iyla, back to her mother. “During the exchange, the officers heard what they believed to be a gunshot coming from the second floor,” Demasi said. “Officers responded up (and) found that the door itself had been barricaded. Additional shots rang out at the officers, at which point they retreated. “The incident ended after an hours long SWAT standoff. Family members have set up a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral costs.