Colorado birthday massacre suspect had been in a fight with the family just LAST weekend

The Colorado birthday massacre suspect who killed six people in front of three young children had been in a previous fight with the family the weekend prior to Mother’s Day, cops said.

Teodoro Macias Jr., 28, killed his girlfriend Sandra Ibarra, her brother Jose Ibarra and her sister Mayra Perez, 32, during the rampage in the early hours of Sunday morning at a home in Colorado Springs, police said during a news conference.

The three other victims were Mayra’s mother-in-law Joana Cruz, 53, and her two sons, Melvin Perez, 30, and Jose Guttierez, 21. Macias also killed himself at the scene. 

Cops said Macias had been in a fight with the family during an event the prior weekend at a different home.

No further details about that altercation were immediately available. 

‘The suspect … had been dating Sandra Ibarra for one year. He was not invited to the family gathering and evidence supports he became upset over that lack of invitation,’ Lt. Joe Frabbiele said, referring to the event this past weekend.

Chief Vince Niski said the family had no knowledge or warning that he was coming on Saturday.

‘We believe he just showed up, and entered the mobile home and started shooting,’ he said.

Macias had ‘a history of jealous and controlling behavior towards his victim,’ Frabbiele said.

‘This behavior in particular was most obvious in particular when trying to isolate her from her family and making efforts to prevent her from attending family events,’ Frabbiele said, though did not detail those claims further.

He added that there had been no previous reported incidents of domestic violence between Macias and Ibarra to police, that Macias had no criminal history and that there had not been any civil rulings like an order of protection. 

Later, when asked how cops knew Macias was angry over not being invited, Lt. Frabbiele said: ‘We’re investigating the manner in which they communicated, which include their phones, so we’re kind of moving through that currently.’

Among next steps in the investigation will be to determine how Macias had obtained the firearm, which was not immediately clear, Frabbiele said.

Police had recovered a Smith and Wesson M&P 9mm semiautomatic handgun underneath Macias’ body at the scene, with two magazines that could 15 rounds each. Cops found 17 shell casings at the scene and live rounds inside one magazine. 

Frabbiele said that the weapon was purchased from a dealer back in 2014 at a local gun store. 

‘The suspect did not purchase the firearm during that transaction. Follow-up is being done to locate and interview the individual who originally purchased this firearm,’ Frabbiele said.

‘This is the only transaction listed for this firearm. We are still investigating how and when the suspect came to possess the handgun. The serial number on that firearm is not reported stolen.’ 

Police arrived shortly after having received three 911 calls: two that both came in at 12.19am Sunday, one of which was from a neighbor who reported hearing gunshots and one from inside the home in which gunshots are heard but nobody spoke, officials said. Cops do not know who placed the call from inside the home.

The third 911 call came at 12.22 from someone telling dispatchers that someone had shot their family, cops said.

Another adult had survived the shooting, having been in another room at the time of the shooting and escaping. 

The victims were discovered by three additional family members, two 16-year-olds and an 18-year-old, who had briefly left the home to grab something from a neighbor before stumbling into the grisly scene.

‘Unware that the shooting had occurred in their absence, they returned to the residence to discover what happened prior to police arrival. They attempted to render aid and provide shelter to the three children,’ cops said.

The three children – ages 2, 5, and 11 –  had been in the main room at the time of the shooting but were able to scape to a back room and were unharmed. They were seen being taken away in tears by police shortly after the shooting.

When DailyMail.com visited the property on Monday, bullet holes could be seen in the walls while the door was taped shut with red police tape.

A smashed window at the back of the home showed where a stray round exited while another bullet hole could be seen in the wall of a neighboring trailer.

The owner, a veteran who asked not to be named, said he had been watching TV with his family when a bullet crashed through his wall and out the other side.

He told DailyMail.com he feels lucky to be alive and said he had heard no arguments from next door.

The veteran said the first he knew of the incident was when gunfire broke out and he and his family dropped to the floor.

He added: ‘This is like the fourth worst massacre in Colorado history and it was right next door to me. We keep thinking about those children. They’re in a lot of pain.’

Other neighbors had left flowers and candles outside the home while a pair of shoes could still be seen on Monday, close to the taped-up front door.

Macias, who had three older sisters named Genevieve, Anna and Chana, grew up in Longmont, Colorado – 90 miles north of Colorado Springs.

He had been living in Colorado Springs for four years at the time of the shooting and worked for a phone company, according to neighbors.

When DailyMail.com visited Macias’ shabby apartment – which is approximately 13 miles and a 23-minute drive from the scene of the shooting – neighbors described a quiet man ‘who kept to himself’.

His neighbor, who asked to keep his name private, said a detective visited early Monday afternoon with members of Sandra’s family and that he had had to call his and Macias’ landlord to let them in.

He said: ‘Her family came over. They brought the police detective here. That was today. This afternoon actually.

‘I had to call my landlord so he could let him in. Yeah, we had the same one – I’m right here on the other side.’

The neighbor said he had regularly seen Sandra at the home, describing her white car and saying that she stayed most nights.

He also claimed she had been Macias’ sole visitor and told how he would regularly come home with Sandra late at night.

The neighbor also said the pair had seemed happy and he had no idea why Macias would want to kill her and her family.

He said: ‘He’s been there [in the house] for a minute – at least three or four years. He worked for a phone company.

‘Most of the time I didn’t even see him because he would come home at night, him and his girl.’

The neighbor said Macias had been proud of his white BMW car which featured repeatedly on his Facebook page but was not at the house on Monday when DailyMail.com visited.

Along with his car, Macias’ social media pages also show photos of him spending time with his sisters and, on February 5, an announcement that he was in a relationship with Sandra.

Although he appears to have no criminal history and neighbors said he had never caused any trouble, he did post a sinister picture showing a rifle and a stash of money in February 2019.

By the time of the killing, that had been changed to a photo of his BMW.

Sandra’s Facebook page also showed the pair together, including a loved-up selfie posted just over six weeks before she was murdered.

On April 21 – less than a month before the massacre – she posted a photo of a pink watch Macias had bought her, with the caption ‘thank you baby, I love it’.   

Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said on Tuesday that it is alarming ‘how lethal domestic violence incidents can be.’

‘About 20-25 percent of the victims of homicides related to domestic violence are another people involved in the relationship but are police officers who respond, family members or bystanders,’ he said. 

‘In Colorado, we’ve had domestic terrorism. We’ve had random acts like going into King Soopers or a movie theater, but let’s not forget about the lethality of domestic violence.’

Suthers added that it was the city’s most violent shooting ever and tied for most violent incident in city history.

‘Believe it or not, I think it was 1911 we also had six victims in an axe murder. But this is the most shooting victims we’ve had and I think it ranks fourth for violent incidents in Colorado,’ he said.