Florida father of girl shot dead by another student on school bus commits that 5 weeks later
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By JAMES NYE and DAILY MAIL REPORTER
The father of a 13-year-old Florida girl who was shot dead by a student on the school bus in November has killed himself after spending five weeks grieving for his daughter. Lourdes 'Jina' Guzman-DeJesus was shot to death on November 20 in Miami, Florida in front of her younger sister and seven other children when another student on the school bus took a gun out of his backpack and accidentally shot her in the neck.
The girl's father, Armando 'Alex' Guzman, 34, did not have a close relationship with the girl but was said to have been overcome with grief and guilt at the tragedy. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and his body was discovered on Thursday in a vehicle in Broward County. The girl did not have regular contact with her father, who had been in prison for a while, according to the Miami Herald.
Sources said that Guzman had not provided financial support for his daughter, who was raised by her mother, Ady DeJesus. But family members said that the father was overcome with grief at the loss of his daughter.
'It had to be that whole thing of guilt that really got to him,' family member, David Font, who is DeJesus' cousin said. 'I heard that he had been very depressed.' The student who shot her is 15-year-old Jordyn Howe, whom police took into custody immediately following the incident. Police believe that the gun went off accidentally while Howe was showing the gun to other students on the bus.
Guzman was flown to Miami Children's Hospital after she was injured, where she later died. She was a student at the Palm Glades Preparatory Academy charter school. Eight other children, including the victim's 7-year-old sister, were on the bus but were not harmed. Authorities took the children and the bus driver to a police station to be interviewed.
The shooting happened near the intersection of Southwest 296 Street and 137 Avenue, around 6:45 a.m. 'Officers responded and that's when they discovered that there was a 13-year-old girl suffering from a gunshot wound,' said Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta. 'They were immediately able to determine that the subject or the shots came within the bus and he was able to be detained and taken into custody.'
Concerned parents gathered at the scene, which was cordoned off by crime scene tape as authorities combed the bus for evidence and gathered children's backpacks and belongings. 'Thank ? , none of the other children, approximately eight of them, they were not hurt,' said Zabaleta.
Zabaleta reassured parents of the schools involved that no further incidents were expected. 'We made contact with all of the schools, everything is fine and none of them have been placed on shut down, so everything is OK, no need for panic,' he said.
Grief counselors have spent the morning at charter school, said Lynn Norman-Teck, a spokeswoman for Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools. The school principal also walked through every classroom after the incident to make sure the students were safe. A phone message left for the private school bus company was not immediately returned.
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Nothing of value was lost today.
