A man accused of shooting dead a pastor and his wife was reportedly the woman’s ex-husband she had divorced the month before.
Sony Josaphat, 46, allegedly shot the couple outside a home near West Palm Beach on Saturday – one week after they had gotten married – and in front of his daughter he shared with the victim.
The couple, identified as Kerlande and Marcelline Racine by the woman’s sister, tied the knot on her birthday on December 2, WPTV reported.
‘She has never been as happy as she was now,’ the woman’s sister said.
The day of the wedding, Josaphat said he was filled ‘with anger and hasn’t been able to sleep’, according to his arrest report.
During jail questioning, Josaphat said he went to the victims’ Florida home to take his daughter to breakfast and that ‘anger took over him’, the report states. Josaphat admitted to shooting the couple and said his daughter watched him do it.
‘Sony said he knew what he did was wrong and has never done anything like this,’ states the report.
Josaphat and the female victim divorced on November 22, a clerk record shows.
The couple were outside the home on the 12000 block of Summit Run Circle installing cameras. The woman took groceries from her car, and the suspect who had his car parked across the street was spotted walking through the yard, a witness told the TV station.
Josaphat greeted the couple and ‘after a few moments, (he) pulled out a pistol and shot’ both of them, according to an investigator.
The suspect’s adult daughter called 911 and reported that her dad had shot her mom and her step-dad.
Josaphat told cops that his ex-wife had ‘been disrespecting him and blocked his calls’.
Residents at the home said Josaphat had not lived there for a year ‘but randomly shows up from time to time and has a history of being controlling’, detectives said.
Besides Josaphat’s adult daughter, two other children of the woman were at the home at the time of the double murder, and one adult also saw the crime unfold.
The male victim was a pastor and his wife was working to become a nurse practitioner after moving to the US from Haiti 25 years ago, her sister said.
Josaphat was arrested on suspicion of two counts of first-degree murder and made his initial court appearance on Sunday. He is being held without bond until his next court appearance slated for January 8.
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