DOUBLE-SLAY HORROR
GIRL, 10, AND MOM SUFFOCATED IN THE BRONX
A suicidal Bronx man is suspected of suffocating a 10-yearold girl and her mother inside their apartment Saturday before shooting and critically wounding himself, police said.
Heaven Ross, 10, and Linda Manigault, 34 — who is believed to be the little girl’s mom — were found dead in the double-murder in Belmont, said police.
The 32-year-old gunman, who was clinging to life at the hospital on Saturday, was in a relationship with Manigault, said neighbors. The children in the home were not his, said a downstairs neighbor.
“They seemed like a good, good family,” said neighbor Ana Candelario, 47. “They were very religious, always singing church music on Sunday. “This is impossible to believe,” she added. “I can’t begin to understand what happened.”
The unspeakable tragedy was discovered when Manigault’s 13-year-old son returned to the apartment on Belmont Ave. near E. 181st St. at about 1:30 p.m. He and two older teenage sisters were not home when the killings took place.
The boy called a relative after he walked into his sister’s bedroom and could not wake her up. The relative called 911.
Cops found the slain 34year-old mom. The apparent killer was lying on their bed with his eyes open, a gun in his hand and a bullet in his head. He was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was in critical condition.
“People out here had no words … we didn’t know what to think,” said a 13-year-old neighbor who used to play with the child who died. “When they brought out the first body we were still in shock.”
“I can’t believe a father did this to his daughter… to his little daughter,” said the teen.
Stunned neighbors saw the man they knew as a quiet, churchgoing dad taken out of the building on a stretcher — in handcuffs.
“This is crazy,” said Imani Sanchez, 27. “We never heard them argue, we never heard them raise their voices. They were nice and respectful. This is just so sad.”