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FBI offers $10K reward for tips in Detroit couple’s slaying

Posted at 12:25 PM, Aug 28, 2020
and last updated 2020-08-28 12:25:57-04

DETROIT (AP) — The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in the shootings of a Detroit family of five that killed a couple and orphaned their three sons.

The reward announced Thursday comes nearly two months after Maria and Francisco Gonzalez were fatally shot and their sons wounded after the family pulled over while driving through a Detroit neighborhood early on July 4.

Police said the gunshots were fired from a vehicle described as a dark, newer model Ford Escape that was one of three cars that then passed the couple’s vehicle.

Maria Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the scene and Francisco Gonzalez died at a local hospital. The couple’s children, ages 15, 12 and 9, were treated for gunshot wounds, police said.

Steven D’Antuono, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office, said he hopes the reward will spur calls to investigators about the slayings.

“Please help us provide these tips and let’s get justice for this family,” he said.

Detroit Assistant Police Chief David LeValley said neither his department nor the FBI were interested in asking anyone with information on the case about their immigration or citizenship status.

Francisco Gonzalez’s nephew, Edgar Gonzalez, said the couple’s three sons are “doing well” and remain with relatives, but the family is seeking answers and closure in the shooting.

“That person, those people, don’t deserve to be out on the streets — not a day longer,” he said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Detroit Police Homicide Task Force at ‪(313) 596-2260, Crime Stoppers of Michigan at 1-800-SPEAK-UP, the FBI Tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI or the Detroit Field Office at (313) 965-2323.