A man is accused of killing his wife and two kids after sharing a video singing a Christmas carol with his son.
Anthony Ross, a vegan chef, author, and motivational speaker allegedly killed his estranged wife, Iris Ross , 38, as well his 11-year-old son, Nigel, and 10-month-old daughter, Anora. The 45-year-old man reportedly killed Iris outside his Phoenix apartment complex before barricading himself inside his home with his two children, according to the New York Daily News.
Witnesses told police officers that they saw the 45-year-old man shoot a woman as she was running away from him. According to them, Ross went back into his apartment and three further gunshots rang out. They say, Ross came back outside again and was rummaging through Iris Ross’ pockets. They said when they tried to intervene; he pointed a gun at them.
Ross refused to hand himself over to police when they arrived and exchanged gunfire with officers in a six-hour standoff.
Initially, Anthony Ross had told negotiators that he had killed his kids. However, when police tried to storm his apartment, he changed his story, saying they were alive and threatened to kill them if police tried to barge in. However, a robot deployed from the Special Assignments Unit confirmed that the younger child, Anora, was already dead.
The tactical unit stormed the apartment in a bid to save the second child.
After a brief exchange of fire, Ross was arrested. Unfortunately, the body of Nigel, who had sang a Christmas carol with his dad less than two hours previous, was discovered in another room.
Iris Ross’ sister, speaking to Arizona Central, said she received a text message from her brother-in-law saying that he had killed Iris and the kids. Mary Wogas revealed that she knew that Ross was unstable , but had no idea that he had totally gone off the deep end.
“I knew that man was very unstable. I knew he had a very, very dark side. I didn’t know it was this dark.”
The 45-year-old man has been arraigned on three-counts of first degree murder and more than a dozen counts of aggravated assault on an officer.
The 46-year-old officer was injured by shrapnel in the firefight.
Anthony Ross once weighed 500lbs, but lost 300lbs after going vegan . He authored two books, capturing his dramatic weight loss journey and also featured in a documentary alongside James Cameron and Samuel L. Jackson discussing veganism.
Ross shared a video alongside a giggling Nigel, singing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”
Ninety minutes later, he killed the 11-year-old boy, his 10-month-old sister, and his wife.
