BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – The state attorney’s office is reviewing the criminal history of a man accused of killing his daughter and three others in a Brevard County home.
Domenico Gigante, 36, was arrested last Wednesday after Glenda May Terwillegar, 63; Michael Andrew Watson, 36; Constance Marie Terwillegar, 35 and Kiara Terwillegar, 15, were found shot to death in a residence on Alan Shepard Avenue in the Canaveral Groves area.
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said during a news conference Gigante is “an extremely violent individual with an extremely violent past dating back as far as 2005, who should have never been on our streets.”
Court records show Gigante has been arrested on various charges, including domestic violence, animal cruelty and aggravated battery.
“He should have never been on the street where he could harm this family or anyone else,” the sheriff said.
The state attorney’s office released the following statement on Thursday after the arrest was made:
The sheriff said there were two other young children in the home when the murders happened. The children — ages 6 and 9 — called their mother’s boyfriend, who drove to the home and later called 911, deputies said.
“As they were driving here, they kept them on the phone,” Ivey said. “And the reason for doing that, and I think it was the perfect right mindset, was they didn’t want to disconnect from the child because they didn’t know if the child was still in danger or not.”
According to an affidavit for an arrest warrant, Gigante is the biological father of Kiara Terwillegar and was struggling to reconnect with her when she refused to have a relationship with him. He was in a relationship previously with Constance Marie Terwillegar.
Investigators said that Gigante left his Rockledge home on Wednesday at 1 a.m. and headed to the victim’s home, where he broke into the house and shot the victims.
When deputies found him, Gigante was back at his home with his roommate. According to the affidavit, deputies told the two men about the killings and asked if Gigante would go with the investigators for more questioning.
When Gigante went inside, the roommate told investigators he learned Gigante shot his daughter three times.
The roommate added that Gigante around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday — frustrated with his daughter and her family — had allegedly said, “I guess I’m going to go over (there) and kill them all.”
Gigante is facing first-degree premeditated murder charges.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: