Police are still searching for a man accused of killing his wife in front of two children on New Year’s Day in Oceanside.
Detectives say the couple's 6-year-old daughter witnessed the shooting and told officers her father shot her mother, Tamara Henderson, 25.
According to an arrest warrant, the suspect, Dontaye Henderson, 28, cut off his GPS bracelet shortly after the shooting. It appears he believed his wife was cheating on him.
"She always with her kids, Sundays they go to church," said the Henderson's neighbor Angelica Evangelista
Neighbors say Tamara Henderson appeared to be a loving mother to her two kids, a six-year-old girl and two year old boy. But they also say she and her husband Dontaye didn't always get along.
"Off and on we'd hear them yelling and each other, it was pretty loud," Evangelista said.
Neighbors say they heard the couple fighting New Year's morning. It was at that time, that Oceanside Police say Dontaye got a gun and killed his wife Tamara.
Their two kids were there when it happened.
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"I feel sorry for the kids that's where my heart really goes to the children," neighbor Robert Hain.
According to court records, Dontaye pleaded guilty to raping his first wife in 2003. He is still on parole for that felony conviction.
As for the couple's two children, police won't say where they are right now, only that they're safe.
Local doctor Clark Smith, MD, has worked with children who are victims of crime.
"It's a horrible trauma for a child to lose a parent," Dr. Smith said.
Smith says the two children will either be raised by relatives or the foster care system. Either way, Smith says they will need extensive therapy.
According to our media partner the North County Times, Dontaye is also accused of kidnapping Consuelo Ramirez at gunpoint, just after the shooting.
Ramirez told police he threatened to hurt her two-year-old son if she didn't drive them out of San Diego County. Dontaye hasn't been seen since.
"I'm pretty paranoid about it, I'm afraid to leave my house because I'm afraid he's going to come back and my neighbors are too," Evangelista said.
Investigators believe Henderson still has the gun that was used during the shooting.
They're asking anyone with information about him, to call Oceanside Police.
