A man has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing to death his girlfriend and her nine-month-old son before turning the knife on himself.
Jamil Etayem, 28, stabbed his 23-year-old girlfriend, Roseanna Sanson, and her infant son, Carter, in what appears to be a gruesome double-murder suicide in Hernando Oaks, near Tampa, Florida.
"It was a pretty horrific scene," said County Sheriff Al Nienhuis.
"It was shocking even to hardened law enforcement officers, and even our dispatchers are having a little bit of a difficult time with it. Fortunately, we don't see this very often."
Police were called after a neighbour who'd heard the couple arguing in the afternoon noticed the house had gone silent and there were no lights on.
"Unfortunately when we got here we found all three of the individuals, including the nine-month-old little boy, deceased," said Sheriff Nienhuis.
The couple had just moved to Florida from Ohio in July. Deputies had been called to the home for domestic violence incidents twice since they'd moved in.
Authorities said that the only weapon used was a knife - or knives - and that it appears Etayem killed Sanson and then the baby, who had a different biological father.
Etayem first found himself on the Sheriff's Office's radar on August 20, when deputies responded to the home the couple shared after receiving several calls of an 'irrational subject' at the home who was threatening to harm himself.
On August 24, Etayem was booked into jail on domestic battery charges. He was bailed out by a family member the next day.
"This really illustrates as much information is out there about domestic violence we can't stress enough to those victims to seek out help," said Sheriff Nienhuis.
"No one wants to move out of a house, especially if young children are involved, but your life may depend on it."