 Man rams car into house, kills self, 2 kids | |
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Florida (AP) -- A man drove his car into his in-laws' house in a fiery Christmas Day crash, killing himself and his two children minutes before he was supposed to turn them over to his estranged wife, according to media reports.
Shahab Behzadpour, his 3-year-old son, Sammi, and 6-year-old daughter, Nikki, died in the crash in Altamonte Springs, a northern Orlando suburb
Behzadpour, 46, and his wife, Hope Custodio, were undergoing a bitter divorce. Court records show she had accused him of abuse, and last Friday she won a restraining order for him to stay away from her, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
But the couple had shared custody of the children and he was supposed to let them spend Christmas afternoon with his wife, relatives and neighbors told WKMG-TV of Orlando.
Behzadpour's Ford Crown Victoria hit a pillar at the front of Custodio's parents' house, in the gated community of Brantley Estates, and exploded into a fireball.
Custodio's brother Alex Custodio told WFTV-TV of Orlando that he believed his brother-in-law intentionally rammed the house, and that Behzadpour had threatened to harm himself and the children in the past.
Alex Custodio said the family did not immediately know who was in the car when the crash occurred.
"The whole thing was in flames," he said. "It was burning real fast, and my wife said there was somebody inside there. She was trying to get the fire extinguisher and it wouldn't work, then we just got away because we thought it was going to explode, and then we found out it was my brother-in-law's car."
The Altamonte Springs Police Department and Orange County Sheriff's Department did not immediately return phone messages and pages Thursday night.
Yaqood Virani, a neighbor of Behzadpour, said the family came to central Florida from Chicago two years ago. He said Behzadpour said he was originally from Iran.
"He loved his children very much," said Virani. "We'd never had an inkling of this." | 
