FRESNO, Calif. (KMPH) -
A 7-year-old girl is the only person to escape a grisly triple murder-suicide scene -- unharmed.
Police tell us 23-year-old Aide Mendez shot and killed her two young children and a cousin, then shot and stabbed her husband, before taking her own life inside a Southeast Fresno apartment Sunday morning.
Neighbor Jesus Gonzales was one of the last people to see Mendez alive.
Her husband came knocking on his door for help.
"I see a woman with a long knife, and I say hey what happened," said Gonzales, making a stabbing motion mimicking what he saw.
After that, Gonzales says he saw a little girl run out of Mendez's house.
"This young girl witnessed a heinous crime, yet she was able to provide great insight into that fateful day. She may be young, but she's extremely bright, articulate and courageous," said Deputy Chief Keith Foster with the Fresno Police Department.
The 7-year-old neighbor, who spent the night, saw at least one of the murders with her own eyes.
Her interview helped investigators understand what they found inside the apartment.
Mendez dead on the bathroom floor next to the bathtub, where she killed her 3-year-old, Isiah, and her 17-month-old, Aliyah.
Police say both kids were awake when their mom shot them.
Found dead in the kitchen, Mendez's cousin, 27-year-old Paul Medina.
Her husband, 33-year-old Eduardo Lopez survived being shot and stabbed.
As for why she went on a shooting rampage, an iPad may hold the answer.
Police say Mendez recorded video her and her cousin doing drugs hours before the killings.
"Catching her smoking methamphetamine. It was bizarre. Her actions, her facial expressions, it was bizarre," said Lt. Mark Salazar, a detective on the case.
Police say they also found 10 grams of meth, a scale, $8,000 in cash and three guns in the home.
Police also said Mendez may have still been suffering from the death of one of her children.
Her four-year-old daughter died of a medical condition in 2008.
As for her husband, he's still in the hospital. Police say Lopez has been in and out of consciousness, and they're waiting for his condition to stabilize so they can get his side of the story.
