Trigger Warning.
A man in Florida went on a killing spree, targeting only women:
A gunman shot and killed his wife outside a South Florida restaurant where she worked, then targeted women inside and killed three others before committing suicide, police said yesterday.
Three women were hospitalized in critical condition, Hialeah police Detective Eddie Rodriguez said. "He went straight for the women,'' Rodriguez said.
And:
Regalado seemed to have targeted his victims. All were women. Only one was not an employee of the popular restaurant, 495 E. 49th St., on one of the busiest corners in Hialeah.
He deliberately walked in the kitchen, started shooting quickly, at close range, police said.
``He looked at me, went right by me but didn't shoot me,'' an unidentified male employee said.
The murdered women were Liazan Molina, 24, the estranged wife of the killer, Maysel Figueroa, 32, Lavina M. Fonseca, 47 and Zaida Castillo, 56. Those in critical condition are Yasmin Dominguez, 38, Ivet Coronado Fernandez and Mayra de la Caridad Lopez, 55.
It is to the credit of these news sources that they point out the gender-specific victim selection. But none of them moves to the obvious next point: Why did this murderer choose to kill women? What is the motive behind that?
When it comes to his possible motives, we get this:
Regalado, whose estranged wife, Liazan Molina, worked at the restaurant, had apparently been trying to reconcile the relationship in the days leading up to the Sunday massacre.
Molina, 24, had moved out of the couple's home. Police said when Regalado's attempts to get her back failed, he lost it.
And this:
The couple's relationship began in Havana when she was 18 and he was in his early 30s. Regalado told neighbors he had paid to bring Molina to America. Records show she received a Social Security card in 2007, the same year they married.
They had lived together for about four months in a small home in the 100 block of Northwest 48th Court off Flagler Street, neighbors said.
Regalado, who had been unemployed for several months, raised pigeons. The couple had two dogs.
But something happened to sever their relation. Facebook postings offer the best clue.
Regalado made numerous postings in an apparent attempt to win her back. She never responded.
Several weeks ago, she moved in with Dominguez, her cousin, neighbors said.
Neighbors said they had witnessed Regalado's deterioration since Molina moved out. He stopped eating, going from 240 pounds to 205.
``He told me he was going to move out of the apartment, that he was very sad,'' said neighbor Damaris Santana.
``He said he couldn't stand to be in the house alone.''
But Regalado would not reveal to his neighbors why the couple broke up.
``He told us it was over typical marital problems,'' Santana said.
So he just lost it? Could happen to anyone, I guess, when a relationship goes sour, especially as he had tried to get her back and had lost weight and felt sad and everything, right?
But he didn't just kill his estranged wife. He killed women as a category. Surely there's more to be said about that? What made him decide to act as a public executioner of women?
I don't know. Perhaps I'm being unfair to the media here, but it seems really obvious that one doesn't just go "poor guy, he lost weight and just lost it so obviously he went out and killed four women, that's what one does when a relationship goes sour." Even if you admit that he went nuts why didn't he go nuts in a gender-neutral fashion?
Sounds like he was a misogynist.