Florida Musician Kills Wife, 2 Daughters and Self; Son Escapes

A 53-year-old Miami musician fatally shot his wife and two daughters Wednesday before turning the gun on himself, and a 16-year-old son who survived the attack managed to call police on a cordless phone as he fled, police said.

Officers went to the home, located in southern Miami-Dade County, just before 6 a.m. after receiving a call about shots fired.

"The son was inside of the residence and he was able to escape unharmed," Miami-Dade Police spokeswoman Rebeca Perez said.

Police are still questioning the teen, according to the Miami Herald.

Pablo Amador, who once sang tenor with the Greater Miami Opera chorus, was musical director, arranger and vocalist for the six-member South Florida-band Los Galileos, the Herald reported, who put his age at 54. He was also a piano teacher.

His wife, who the newspaper says was 47, but police put at two years younger, was employed by the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis Center at the University of Miami as the director of education, according to the Herald.

Their two daughters were 11 and 12, according to a police news release, but the Herald reported they were 13 and 14.

It wasn't immediately clear what led to the killings.

Police were seen carrying black body bags and loading them into Miami Dade Police vehicles. Officers located a gun but haven't determined how many shots were fired.

Neighbor Soraya Peer said she has lived next to the family for five years and had seen "nothing negative come out of that home before."

"He was a marvelous person and a tremendous professor. People would enter the house, and you just breathed peace," said neighbor Saraie Betancourt.

Claretha Allen told the Herald her children took piano lessons from Amador at his home.

"I can't imagine what happened in that house," the 41-year-old, who lives nearby, told the newspaper.

She said her children used to call him, "Mr. Jose."

The family was active members of the Perrine Peters Methodist Church, where Amador's kids participated in the youth group, the Herald reported.

''All the kids were really musical. A year ago they did a church skit. All the kids were in a band,'' Liz Warriner, a member of the church, told the Herald. "They seemed like a close family."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click here to read more on this story from the Miami Herald.