HIGH POINT, N.C. — New details have emerged about a deadly standoff between officers and an armed man in High Point. The incident which began late at night on Thursday, Feb. 4 ended the next day with two people dead, four police officers injured and two children orphaned.
As the State Bureau of Investigation continues to look into the case we've learned more about one of the victims. Blanca Cadavid was shot and killed by the suspect, 34-year-old Josue Drummond-Cruz, police said.
According to a family member on social media, Cadavid, a 35-year-old mother of two was 'kind and gentle.'
A High Point police spokesperson said she wasn't legally married to the suspect but they were both the parents of two children who were inside the house.
Tactical officers shot and killed Drumond-Cruz after an hours-long standoff with him on Friday. It all started the previous night after an officer heard gunshots coming from the home on West English Road and investigated. Drumond-Cruz refused to come outside. Hours into the standoff, authorities said he emerged from the home with a rifle and shot three officers. Drumond-Cruz continued shooting at officers and was killed shortly after 10 a.m.
Police said they found Cadavid dead inside the home once the standoff was over. According to the medical examiner, she had been killed 8-10 hours before the discovery of her body. Officers said the two children ages 12 and 14 weren't physically unharmed.
"My reaction was oh my goodness, where were they when everything was happening did they see everything," said Theresa Johnson of Family Services of the Piedmont.
Officials with Guilford County Family Justice Center said the children are now in a safe space.
Advocates said the immediate focus of whoever has custody of them would be helping them process the trauma they have experienced and the grief that comes with losing their parents in such a manner.
"When children witness violence, they have a significant response that they can't always make sense of the world the way we adults can," Johnson said.
"When it comes down to domestic violence murders, they are a little bit different because look there are children, the children they don't have their mother, they're going to be traumatized for the rest of their lives," said Portia Shipman of the Sherri Denese Jackson Foundation.
The foundation is an advocacy and resource center for women facing domestic violence.
"Then there's her family and his family because the abusers have family members who love them and cherish them and they too don't want to see that person lose their life and now everybody is in chaos," Shipman said.
Meanwhile, the four injured officers, one of them from the Greensboro Police Department, are now recovering at home. High Point's Interim Police Chief Travis Stroud said the incident took an emotional toll and all who were involved.
"I've been here 26 years and I can assure you this has not happened, this is probably the worst phone call and the most stressful day I've ever had in the history of this police department," he stated. "A man tried to kill three of our officers, murder them this morning and unsuccessfully thank goodness."
"The other officers are going to think about going into homes and situations of domestic violence, how is that going to impact other people's safety as far as officers coming to the rescue," Shipman said.
The investigation is still in the early stages and the officers are waiting to be interviewed. The SBI is in charge of the investigation which is standard protocol for police shootings.
The family has asked for privacy at this time, but have set up a fundraising site
