Jesus Alonso Jr.
The small Old East Dallas apartment building owned by the Alonso family is quiet. The gate to the four-plex is locked.
A string of Christmas lights still hangs above the second-story window of the family's home – a reminder of happier times.
Inside, in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday, Abigail Alonso, 34, and her 18-year-old son, Jesus Jr., were shot to death. Ms. Alonso's 11-year-old son, also shot, was critically injured. Her husband and the children's father, Jesus, 37, who was believed to be the gunman, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
For police, Dallas' first slayings of 2007 are a bitter reminder that it is almost impossible to prevent some crimes. On the surface, there didn't seem to be a reason to believe that this family could meet such a violent end.
Police had no record of previous domestic violence calls involving the family. The Alonsos recently had marital troubles, but friends say the family was friendly and happy. Neighbors said they saw the children and Mr. Alonso playing soccer together on Christmas Day.
"It's pretty sad," said Sgt. Larry Lewis, a supervisor in the homicide unit who went to the home after the slayings. "You can see what the kids got for Christmas."
Family members could not be reached for comment.
Police say Mr. Alonso's brother, who lives nearby, heard gunshots coming from the apartment in the 1900 block of North Prairie Avenue about 5 a.m. He used a key to let himself into the apartment.
Mr. and Mrs. Alonso were dead in the upstairs hallway. Their elder son was in the master bedroom and was taken to a hospital, where he died.
The younger son was in the other bedroom. He remains in critical condition at another hospital. Police requested that his name not be published.
"We don't know what precipitated all this," said Sgt. Lewis. "We're still looking for answers."
The slayings came on the heels of news that in 2006, Dallas had its lowest number of murders since at least 1967. That good news is easily tempered by the tough fact that domestic violence cases are often unpreventable.
"In a family situation with no prior warning, there's very little that police can do," said Assistant Dallas Police Chief Ron Waldrop, commander of the criminal investigations bureau. "There's no way to predict that, and there's no intervention strategy that would work whatsoever."
Friends and neighbors recalled the Alsonsos as a loving family.
"I have to tell you, I saw them every single day for the last two years, and they were gentle and quiet and pleasant," said Carolyn Franklin, a next-door neighbor. "They couldn't have been nicer neighbors. It's unsetting that you could not sense any trouble at all."
Mrs. Alonso and her husband had been married about 18 years and had lived in the family-owned building since at least 1999. Records indicate he was a welder at one time.
Robert Bellamy, who lives across the street, said the Alonsos and their relatives had lived in the gated four-plex building for about two decades.
"They were always as nice as could be," Mr. Bellamy said. "They played outside with their children. There was always good activity and happiness and camaraderie with them. They kind of raised their families there."
But a relative told police that the Alonsos had recently been having marital troubles and that Mrs. Alonso had moved into a nearby apartment. The two children appeared to have been living with Mr. Alonso, and police don't know why his wife was back at his apartment Wednesday morning when the shooting occurred.
"I don't know if she had moved back in," Sgt. Lewis said. "We don't know if maybe they were getting back together for the holidays or if she was there to pick up the kids."
Doris Jaramillo, a classmate and friend of the elder son, said the younger brother looked up to his older sibling and even dressed like him. "He wanted to be just like him," she said.
She said Jesus Alonso Jr., a senior at Skyline High School, wanted to be an attorney and that she had recently been with him on a school government trip to Austin.
She said that her friend recently told her that his parents were splitting up.
"He really looked up to his father," Ms. Jaramillo said. "That's why I am so shocked this happened."
She described the father as being "very calm. He never got upset."
Agustin Carbajal, pastor of Luz del Evangelio Church, said Jesus Jr. and his daughter were close friends.
"He stood up at her quinceañera last year," Mr. Carbajal said. "He was a very nice young man."
Mr. Carbajal said he met Jesus Sr. and Ms. Alonso in a church near their home and prayed for their marriage, but the parents were not as involved in church as their son.
The pastor added that Jesus Jr. was involved in several student organizations and studied several foreign languages. "If he hadn't been killed, he could have done a lot of good," he said.
He said he was a leader in the League of United Latin American Citizens and had organized students from his school to participate in the march for immigrants in downtown Dallas last April.
"He would hold a prayer service after school and invite the kids to tell them about the dangers of drugs and alcohol," Mr. Carbajal said. "He was a very focused young man. You don't see young people like him."
Daniel Mercado-Lopez, who lives nearby, said his father used to play soccer with the elder Alonso, who went by the nickname "Chuy." He said the Alonsos had come to their home once for a barbecue.
"They were good people," he said. "The whole family was just so loving. I couldn't see any problems between them."
Ms. Franklin said she had recently spoken to the couple's younger son after a ball was accidentally hit or throw into her back yard. The boy politely knocked on the door and asked if he could retrieve it.
"I told him he didn't need to ask," she remembered. "It's sad that a family can be here one day and gone the next."
Like Ms. Franklin, Mr. Bellamy said he had not noticed anything unusual.
"That's what's so disturbing about it. Whatever happened sure got stirred up quickly."
Rebecca Lopez of WFAA-TV (Channel 8) contributed to this report.