Miami Gardens Police Department(MIAMI GARDENS, Fla.) — Police are searching for a South Florida man who allegedly killed his wife and their 10-year-old daughter with a machete during a fight over the couple’s impending divorce.
Investigators said Noel Chambers, a 57-year-old native of Jamaica, launched a brutal attack late Saturday evening when his wife, Lorrice Harris, returned home from celebrating her 49th birthday.
A 911 caller reported the dispute at around 11:30 p.m., according to police. Officers arrived to the couple’s home in Miami Gardens, Florida, about 17 miles northwest of Miami, where they discovered the bodies of young Shayla Chambers and her mother inside, police said.
Shayla was found lying in her bed and Harris was discovered on the home’s back porch, police said. The couple’s older daughter, 29-year-old Shanalee Chambers, managed to escape and was rushed to the hospital with stab wounds, according to police.
“That scene was terrible it was just heart-wrenching to see what occurred at that location,” Miami Gardens Police Chief Delma Noel-Pratt told reporters Monday. “These two individuals did not deserve that. His oldest daughter didn’t deserve to be in the hospital right now, trying to recover from wounds that she received after he took it upon himself to take a machete and go slicing up their bodies.”
Miami Gardens police and SWAT team officers swarmed an abandoned building located about four blocks away from the crime scene on Monday after receiving a tip about a possible sighting of the suspect, but Chambers was still on the loose as of late Monday evening.
“The manhunt continues,” Carlos Austin, the department’s public information officer, told ABC News Monday night. “We received a credible tip and we searched an abandoned building this afternoon, to no avail.”
Authorities have been focusing on the South Florida area, but police believe Chambers may attempt to flee to Jamaica. The department said it has measures in place if Chambers attempts to flee the country.
“We need to get him off the streets. If he could do this to his wife and his own 10-year-old daughter, he will do it to someone else,” Noel-Pratt said. “We are putting a lot of resources into finding this guy. Help us get him off the streets.”
The victims’ family said the suspect, who goes by the nickname Massive, and Harris have been married for about 10 years.
“This could have been anybody’s sister, anybody’s daughter. A 10-year-old lying in bed,” Harris’ older daughter, Ashlee Anderson, told reporters Monday. “This is not a human. This is a monster, and we need to get this monster off the street.”
Authorities are offering a $3,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest.
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