“We Have Children, Please Let Us Go”: Woman’s Heartbreaking Plea Couldn’t Stop Estranged Husband from Killing Her Cousin

Denis Del Carmen Polo Fuentes, 57, had returned to her former home to collect her belongings. Instead, the visit ended in a deadly shooting witnessed by two members of her family.

A routine trip to collect personal belongings turned into a nightmare for a Florida family when a 57-year-old woman was fatally shot by her estranged husband inside an apartment in North Miami-Dade. Before the shooting, her cousin reportedly begged the armed man to spare the three women, reminding him that they all had children waiting for them at home. But despite the desperate plea, the confrontation ended with two people dead. The victim was identified as Denis Del Carmen Polo Fuentes, while the man identified by authorities was her 64-year-old husband, Franky Paba.

The shooting occurred at approximately 7:03 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, at an apartment in the 17000 block of Northeast 14th Avenue. According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, Denis had gone to the residence to retrieve her personal belongings. Paba allowed her inside before allegedly producing a firearm and shooting her. He then turned the weapon on himself. When deputies arrived, they found both individuals with apparent gunshot wounds. Emergency responders pronounced them dead at the scene. Investigators confirmed that the incident was domestic in nature, but said the circumstances surrounding the relationship and the events leading up to the shooting remained under investigation.

Denis’s cousin, Maria Espinosa, later described the terrifying moments inside the apartment to local news outlets. She and another female relative had accompanied Denis to collect her belongings. According to Espinosa, Paba suddenly began behaving in a threatening manner and warned that nobody would leave the apartment alive. Espinosa said she pleaded with him to let the three women go, reminding him that they had children and families depending on them. She was not simply asking for her own life to be spared; she was desperately trying to protect everyone who had accompanied Denis that evening. The situation escalated, and Espinosa said she witnessed her cousin being shot before Paba took his own life.

The family later revealed that Denis and Paba had been separated for approximately two months. Relatives told reporters that the relationship had been going through difficulties, while a neighbor said Denis had previously expressed that she no longer wanted to remain with him. In an emotional account, Espinosa recalled Denis pleading with Paba to stop, explaining that she no longer wanted to be with him and only wanted to collect her things and leave. Espinosa also said she was still struggling to process what she had witnessed. She described Denis as a happy woman who had moved to the United States from Colombia about 10 years earlier and was ready to build a new chapter of her life.

The tragedy has left relatives and neighbors trying to understand how a visit to retrieve personal belongings could end in such devastating circumstances. The apartment community, described by residents as generally quiet, was shaken by the deadly incident. For Denis’s family, however, the loss is far more personal than a shocking headline. They remember a woman who had hoped to move forward after separating from her husband, only to lose her life during what should have been a simple trip to collect her possessions. The two women who accompanied her survived, but the memory of that evening will remain with them.

The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Homicide Bureau continues to investigate the case. Authorities have identified Paba as the suspected shooter in the fatal incident and confirmed that he died by suicide afterward. Investigators have not publicly established a specific motive, and details about the couple’s history remain limited. As the investigation continues, Denis’s loved ones are left mourning a woman whose attempt to move on from a relationship ended in an unimaginable tragedy.

Source: PEOPLE