Man who allegedly killed wife, 10-year-old daughter with machete arrested in Florida, police say
Police arrested a South Florida husband who is accused of brutally killing his wife and their 10-year-old daughter with a machete on the woman's 49th birthday.
Noel Chambers, 57, was apprehended on Tuesday evening, ending a multi-day manhunt, after he allegedly attacked his wife, Lorrice Harris, and the couple's daughter over the weekend, according to police.
He was located outside of a Miami area fire station, Miami Gardens police said. The firemen were arriving back to the station from a call when they recognized him and notified the police, Carlos Austin, the department's public information officer, told ABC News late Tuesday.
"Chief Delma K. Noel-Pratt, chief of police of the Miami Gardens Police Department, directed all of our resources to ensure that we took Mr. Chambers into custody," Austin said. "Mr. Chambers committed a horrible crime, was considered to be armed and dangerous, therefore we wanted to ensure we captured him quick, and without further incident."
Police responded to a reported dispute at the couple's home in Miami Gardens, Florida, about 17 miles northwest of Miami, at around 11:30 p.m. Saturday.
Officers arrived to the couple's house a few minutes later and found the bodies of Shayla Chambers and her mother inside, police said.
Shayla was found lying in her bed and Harris was discovered on the home's back porch, police said. The couple's older daughter, 29-year-old Shanalee Chambers, managed to escape and was rushed to the hospital with stab wounds, according to police.
Noel-Pratt spoke about the "heinous" nature of the crime scene at a press conference on Monday.
"That scene was terrible. It was just heart-wrenching to see what occurred at that location," Noel-Pratt said. "These two individuals did not deserve that. His oldest daughter didn't deserve to be in the hospital right now, trying to recover from wounds that she received after he took it upon himself to take a machete and go slicing up their bodies.
"If he could do this to his wife and his own 10-year-old daughter, he will do it to someone else," she added.
Harris’ family members also spoke to reporters on Monday as they pleaded for the public's help in locating Chambers, who goes by the nickname "Massive."
"This could have been anybody's sister, anybody's daughter -- a 10-year-old lying in bed," Harris' adult daughter, Ashlee Anderson, told reporters Monday. "This is not a human. This is a monster, and we need to get this monster off the street."
She said Harris and Chambers had been married for about 10 years.
Authorities had offered a $3,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest.
