Correction: Longwood police originally identified the female victim as 4 years old, but learned Friday that she was actually 3 years old. The story has been changed to reflect her correct age.
LONGWOOD, Fla. — An arrest warrant has been issued for a Longwood father on charges of first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree attempted murder after his 3-year-old daughter was found dead and his 12-year-old found severely injured, according to an arrest report released by the Longwood Police Department.
In it, the 12-year-old victim told police her father, 39-year-old Juan Bravo-Torres, attacked her and killed her little sister before injuring himself.
The incident occurred at their Longwood home early Thursday morning. According to the report, the victim said she was sleeping when she woke to find her dad “reaching for her neck,” before he sliced her throat.
The victim told police she left the room when her dad went to get another knife and found her 3-year-old sister on the floor in the hallway.
The 12-year-old said her dad came at her again with the knife but fought him off before she eventually “acted as if she were dead in hopes he would stop attacking her,” the report stated.
Bravo-Torres then dragged the victim and her little sister into a bathroom where he turned off the lights and cut his wrists, the 12-year-old told police. She also said she heard what sounded like her dad cutting his throat, according to the report.
After waiting for her dad to lose consciousness, the girl said she grabbed the knife used in the attack, left their home and walked a mile down the road to the McDonalds where her mother was working and told her what their dad had done, the report said.
Police responded to the home at about 6 a.m. where they found the 3-year-old girl dead and Bravo-Torres unconscious.
According to officials, he remains in critical condition at a local hospital. Once released, investigators said he will be taken into police custody and transported to the John E. Polk Correctional Facility in Sanford.
The 12-year-old victim also remains in critical but stable condition, officials said.
Through Sharity Global, Carol Wick works with organizations around the country, and even around the world, to strengthen their nonprofits. And for many of those organizations, that work includes increasing access to resources for domestic violence victims. Much of her mission is to push for reforms in the justice system to ultimately prevent violence from happening.
Wick says it’s not uncommon for perpetrators to hurt children.
“Those children are really an object, a possession, and the more attached the mother or the victim is to the children the more likely they are to become victims themselves as a way to punish and control the mother,” said Wick, a domestic violence expert and Sharity Global’s CEO.
Wick says anyone who believes they might be in a domestic violence situation should trust their gut, and try to reach out to someone who can advise them on how to safely get out of that relationship.
“Get a safety plan, and know what options you have so when that situation does happen, you know what to do and you’ve already thought that through,” said Wick.
If you feel you are in a domestic violence situation and need help, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline, that number is 800-799-7233, and you can remain anonymous.