The murder-suicide occurred just three days before Ray Felix was due in court on Monday, April 1, after being charged with felony battery, according to court records.
A beloved teacher is dead and her two sons are orphaned after a murder-suicide in Florida on Friday night.
Jamie Felix, 45, and her two sons, ages 10 and 17, were leaving a business in Port St Lucie on Friday when they were approached by a man they did not recognize, according to Port St. Lucie Police (PSLP) Public Information Officer Master Sgt. Dominick Mesiti.
The three soon realized the mystery man was the boys' father and Jamie's estranged husband, Ray Felix, dressed in disguise, said Mesiti.
Ray had a gun on him and soon forced his way into the car and told Jamie to drive toward West Palm Beach while holding her at gunpoint, according to the PLP. The two boys were instructed to follow behind in the rental car their father had arrived in, with the teenager at the wheel as the two cars drove 50 miles south to West Palm Beach, said police.
Authorities said that after driving for approximately one hour, the vehicle Jamie was driving suddenly swerved into the parking lot of a local motel in West Palm Beach.
West Palm Beach Police (WPBP) spokesman Mike Jachles said at a news conference over the weekend that after pulling into the parking lot, Ray and Jamie exited the car, at which point Ray allegedly shot and killed his estranged wife.
This happened as the two boys watched from the rental car, said Jachles.
Ray then got into the rental car alone and returned it to the rental agency, according to Jachles.
He did not exit the vehicle after arriving at the agency, however, and when officers arrived on the scene and began to approach him he shot himself, said Jachles, who noted that Ray "seemed intent on taking his life."
Emergency responders declared Jamie dead on the scene while Ray died at the hospital a few hours after shooting himself, said police. Autopsies are pending for both.
Both boys remained on the scene where their mother was shot and were unharmed said police.
The shooting comes just days before Ray was due in court on Monday, April 1, after being charged with felony battery, according to court records.
Jamie called PSLP and alleged that Ray had physically assaulted her and taken her phone during an incident that happened at the couple's home in October, according to an arrest report obtained by Inside Edition Digital.
In her interview with the police, Jamie said the two were about to file for divorce and told officers "Ray is very manipulative and is retired from law enforcement so he knows how to play police," according to the arrest report.
As a condition of his pretrial release in that case, Ray could not have contact with Jamie or the couple's youngest son, who police say witnessed the incident.
The couple had lived in Michigan until 2016 when they moved to Port St Lucie, according to public records.
