There is no news as to the whereabouts of a third daughter, Bea, a University of Miami student. Amador’s only son, Javier, 16, escaped and called the police, who later found Amador, 53; his 45-year-old wife, Maria; and their youngest daughters, Prescilla,14, and Rosa, 13, dead. Not surprisingly, the family’s friends are in a state of disbelief. 

"I was shocked, I couldn’t believe it, this is a tragedy," said family friend James Carter — who ran into Amador at a bank a day before the shooting — to a local CBS new station. "He walked out calm, he was dressed nice, he wasn’t shaking, he wasn’t acting different; he was acting normal, and this was a real shocker."

Amador was a piano teacher in Miami and taught young children around the neighborhood. His wife had a nursing degree and was the director of an education program in medicine at the University of Miami. Late Wednesday night, UM’s President Donna Shalala released the following statement:

Today we mourn the terrible loss of a special member of the University of Miami family. Maria Amador, a University employee since 1995, was director of education at the Miller School of Medicine’s Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. She was beloved by her colleagues and the many people she served with dedication and compassion.

W. Dalton Dietrich III, the scientific director of The Miami Project who worked very closely with Maria, said that she was passionate about her job and came to work every day dedicated to educating people about spinal cord injury and advancing the scientific discoveries at the clinic. ‘Maria had the special talent of translating our science into words that could be understood and appreciated by the general public.’

The tragic death of Maria and two of her children touches the university community in another devastating way.

It’s tragic, sick and sad, and we wish the best to Amador’s surviving children.