The last time Irma Denisse Rivera spoke with her daughter, it was about plans for her to leave.
After enduring “mental abuse” in recent months, Julie Cruz, 32, had decided to end her relationship with her partner Stephen McKenzie, Rivera said.
There were no signs of physical violence. Cruz hadn’t told her mother she was afraid for her safety. She just felt “drained with his energy,” Rivera said.
Cruz spoke with her mother on March 25 about getting away to Orlando.
The next evening at their Pembroke Park apartment, McKenzie shot Cruz, two of her young children by a different father, two of McKenzie’s own babies that he had with Cruz and then himself, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said. All but 8-year-old Phiinyx Solomon died.
Phiinyx’s 11-year-old brother Xion Solomon was killed while trying to protect her, his mother and his baby brothers Nova and Emery McKenzie, who both were 2 years old, Rivera said.
Phiinyx and McKenzie were both taken from the fourth-floor apartment in the 3100 block of West Hallandale Beach Boulevard still alive but in serious and critical conditions. The little girl never lost consciousness, Rivera said. McKenzie was pronounced dead at the hospital the next day.
In the two weeks since the mass shooting, Phiinyx has made progress in her physical recovery, Rivera said. She has started walking, talking, eating and participating in physical therapy.
“My granddaughter, she is a phoenix,” Rivera told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Wednesday. “She rises up. She is a strong fighter.”
‘My first born’
Cruz and her mother were each other’s best friend and talked about everything and anything. She was Rivera’s first-born child, her “oxygen,” she said.
Rivera described her daughter as the kind of friend who was a “counselor” to many, constantly giving advice and comfort to anyone who came to her with problems. She raised her children to have faith. If Xion was at football practice or Phiinyx was playing in a violin recital, Cruz would be in the crowd watching.
She took the kids out paddling on the Intracoastal and to amusement parks. Rivera shared family vacations with them on cruises. They loved cooking together.
“I just want people to know that it’s not just a headline title, a woman and three children deceased, gunned down,” Rivera said. “It was a wonderful daughter, mother, sister and friend. And three wonderful little boys who deserve all of the love in the world.”
‘Xion the lion’
At just 11 years old, Xion’s protective nature was clear, Rivera said. It’s why she gave him the nickname “Xion the lion.”
He was especially close with Phiinyx, Rivera said.
“My grandson had a heart of gold. Even if he didn’t know you, and he saw that you had a frown in your face, he would come up to you and say, ‘Are you OK? Is there anything I can do?’” Rivera said.
One of Xion’s teachers Eboni Grant-Burts previously told the Sun Sentinel, too, that was his character. He was a future leader and a thoughtful person who looked out for others, including her.
Rivera said that detectives told her Xion was found on top of two of his little siblings after the shooting.
“His den, his lion’s den. He died protecting his lion’s den,” she said.
Toddlers Nova and Emery already showed personality. Nova, “the little funny one,” would have turned 3 on Sunday. Emery always wanted to be hugged tightly when his grandmother came around, she said.
” … Just full of life, both of them full of life,” she said.
‘Never in a million years’
McKenzie, Cruz and the children shared the fourth-floor apartment in Pembroke Park where the shooting unfolded. Rivera said they had become more like roommates rather than partners, splitting the rent and sleeping separately.
Cruz would sometimes ask her mom for advice after disagreements with McKenzie, but she didn’t go into too much detail until recently when she said she wanted to end the relationship, Rivera said.
“She was going to leave that weekend, and I told her, ‘Well, just come up to the house and from here we leave.’ And that’s the last time I spoke to her,” Rivera said. “The day of the incident, I don’t know what happened. If he saw her packing, if they got into an argument or if she told him, ‘I’m leaving you.’”
Rivera said she had gotten to know McKenzie over the years. Although her daughter said he had mental health issues, Rivera said there were no warning signs of the violence to come.
“Never in a million years would I think that he would do something like this … My family spent time over there visiting the grandchildren with him being present, and he would put a facade that everything’s OK and he was happy, proud father,” she said.
Medical staff are “amazed” at Phiinyx’s improvement in the past two weeks, her grandmother said. Donations from a GoFundMe will go into a trust account for the physical and emotional therapy the girl will now need for the rest of her life, Rivera said.
“Anyone undergoing domestic violence, don’t wait and think that it’s going to get better. Even if it’s not physical. Just leave. Find your way out and leave,” Rivera said.