A federal agent fatally shot his girlfriend, a nurse, in their New York City apartment before turning the gun on himself, according to police. The incident is being investigated as a murder-suicide.
The father of Andrea Cantarini, 37, called 911 Tuesday night after his daughter informed him her boyfriend, Juan Cornelio Diaz, 38, a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent, was holding her at gunpoint. While on the phone with his daughter and the dispatcher, he overheard what sounded like three gunshots and his daughter screaming.
Police responded to the Bronx apartment and found both Cantarini and Diaz dead from apparent gunshot wounds to the head. Cantarini's father told the New York Daily News that his daughter had intended to break up with Diaz, and he "couldn't handle it."
"I was on the phone with her for 14 minutes while he was holding a gun to her head," Rudy Cantarini recounted. "I was begging for her life. And he ended up taking her life."
Authorities reported no prior domestic disturbance calls involving the couple. However, a downstairs neighbor told the Daily News that she and her roommate had overheard a loud argument between the couple earlier in the week. The neighbor also reported hearing gunshots on Tuesday night.
Cantarini and Diaz had a six-year-old daughter together. Diaz also had a son from a previous relationship. Neighbors described the couple as appearing happy and outwardly successful, expressing shock at the events.
The CBP has stated that it is cooperating with the investigation. The firearm believed to have been used in the incident has been recovered.