Haines City triple shooting suspect turns himself in
HAINES CITY, Fla. (FOX 13) - The suspect in Friday's triple shooting in Haines City has turned himself in to police.
The Haines City Police Department said 38-year-old Ernst Cherizard turned himself in to authorities just after 2 p.m. Sunday.
Police said Cherizard shot his 23-year-old girlfriend, Eli Junia Normil, inside a Haines City apartment complex before turning the gun on Normil's 6-year-old daughter, Elizabelle Frenel. Police said the girl was shot three times; one of those shots was fired directly at the young girl's head. The girl died just before 11 p.m. on Saturday.
Cherizard also shot Normil's mother, 48-year-old Nicole Guillume, who showed up a short time later looking for her daughter, the family told FOX 13.
Normil's Facebook page is filled with photos of her and Cherizard, painting a picture of a happy couple in love.
However, Polk County court records tell a very different and violent story.
In April of 2017, Normil filed a domestic violence injunction against Cherizard. Just months later, Cherizard was arrested by Polk County authorities for domestic violence aggravated battery against Normil while she was seven months pregnant with their twin children.
Those twin babies, now just over a year old, are without a mother after Cherizard shot and killed her, along with her mother and daughter.
Cherizard fled the scene Friday night and his vehicle was spotted in South Florida at a Boynton Beach toll plaza just after midnight on Saturday.
Police said they teamed up with U.S. Marshals to find him; however, Cherizard turned himself in soon after.
"Because of Cherizard's cowardly actions -- and they are nothing short of cowardly -- a family now has to bury three members, including a young child who had her whole life in front of her," Chief Jim Elensky said. "Our team is doing everything we can to bring this person to justice and help provide
closure for this family through this absolutely horrific tragedy. Our thoughts are with them as we continue this investigation."