MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A 76-year-old man was taken into custody Friday morning after he fatally stabbed his ex-girlfriend inside her granddaughter's townhouse in west Miami-Dade County, authorities said.
According to Miami-Dade police, officers were called to the home off Southwest 152nd Avenue and Eighth Way after the man, Jorge Gonzalez had repeatedly stabbed Maritza Ospina, 70, from whom he had been separated for four months.
Authorities said the former couple previously lived togehter, however Ospina decided to leave and move in with her granddaughter.
Police said Gonzalez went to the home Friday morning and forced his way inside. Authorities said he then walked to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and began stabbing the victim.
Authorities said the victim's granddaughter intervened to try to stop the stabbing and was unharmed. A group of roofers who were working on a nearby home said the granddaughter ran outside, screaming for help.
"She ran out of the house, screaming at the top of her lungs," Kimari Merritt said. "We're all looking around, and we finally go to go see what was going on. The lady was just laying in a pool of blood."
"We see the lady on the floor and the man standing over her with a knife," another worker, identified only as Randy, said. "There was blood everywhere. We tried to tell him to put the knife down. We threw several things at him to make him get away from the injured lady. He wouldn't. He tried stabbing himself. He said he didn't care. We actually acted like we had a weapon on us to try to get him to calm down."
Workers said Gonzalez pointed the knife at them as they tried to apprehend him.
The victim was taken to Kendall Regional Medical Center, where she died.
Robert Navarro, who lives next door to the victim, said Ospina and his mother were close, and Ospina would show his mother obsessive texts from her ex.
"He's sick in the head. He's always sending her messages, saying, like, 'Where are you?'" Navarro said. "They were together, but they ended because of all of that obsessive stuff -- all that. You can't do that. Always screaming at her. He's just an aggressive guy."
Authorities said charges are pending against Gonzalez.