Christmas custody exchange ends with mom shooting dad in front of 5 kids, Florida cops say

A mother is accused of shooting her child’s father and a woman he was with, killing her, during a Christmas Day custody exchange in the parking lot of a Walgreens, Florida deputies said.

On Dec. 20, two adults who share an 11-month-old baby were granted 50/50 joint custody of their child by a court in Putnam County, according to a Dec. 25 arrest report from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.

The child was with the mother, so the parents arranged to meet in a Walgreens parking lot on Christmas Day in Gainesville to pass the baby to the father, deputies said.

McClatchy News is not identifying the parents to protect the identity of children involved.

The mother drove to a store near the Walgreens on Dec. 25 with the 11-month-old and four of her other children and stopped nearby, deputies said.

The mom handed her debit card and food stamp card to her oldest son in the car and gave him “instructions on how to pay his cell phone bill,” which the son told deputies she had never done before, according to the report.

She then drove the car to the Walgreens and pulled out a gun and “cocked” it while she waited for her child’s father to arrive, deputies said.

The child’s father then arrived in the parking lot in a car driven by another woman, according to the report. The mom had “concluded” the woman and her child’s father had an affair “for years,” deputies said.

The mom got out of her car and walked up to the driver with a gun held behind her back, then shot into the car and hit her three times, deputies said.

The father climbed into the driver’s seat to try and get away from the mother as she walked around the car before the mother also shot him three times, according to the report.

“You made this happen!” the woman shouted while shooting, deputies said in the report.

The mother ran back to her car where the five children were still sitting and drove off, deputies said.

A nearby Gainesville police officer heard the shots and started to follow her, soon joined by Alachua Sheriff’s Office deputies and Alachua police, according to the report.

The mother drove for 13 miles as she was chased, reaching speeds of 100 mph, deputies said.

She was eventually stopped and taken into custody.

The child’s father survived his gunshot wounds, but the woman with him died of her injuries, deputies said.

The mom was charged with premeditated murder, premeditated attempted murder and five counts of child neglect, according to arrest records.

Gainesville is about 110 miles northwest of Orlando.

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