Victim advocates speak out after deadly domestic violence outside Donna day care

DONNA, Texas (ValleyCentral) — ValleyCentral learned new details tonight about a deadly shooting in Donna that left a husband and wife dead.

Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra is calling it a case of extreme domestic violence.

Balloon arrangements and a photo of Nubia Bravo,26, now sit outside the daycare where the shooting happened. Authorities say Saul Esquivel,41, chased Bravo outside the building and shot her multiple times. He then turned the gun on himself.

Veronica Neira with the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Victim Services Unit says these types of violent incidents often happen when the abuser feels they have lost control over their partner.

“Whenever they don’t have that power and control over that individual, so if that person feels jealous or stressed out or even drug use at the home can bring up that person anger and they cannot express their anger but with violence,” Neira said.

The sheriff’s victim services team was at the scene helping with the investigation.

Esquivel was confirmed to be a singer for the local musical group "Banda La Nueva Generación Sinaloense."

Neira says some cultural aspects can also contribute to these types of situations.

“When we speak to our victims, they do mention a lot of machismo that they see because they don’t want the individual to work or trying to check on them all the time or trying to control their financial status or trying to just control what they are wearing, who they talk to, and isolate them,” she said.

She added that the department receives calls related to domestic violence nearly every day.

“Every morning, we do have our cases that we receive and a lot of our cases and a lot of our cases are family violence cases,” Neira said.

Genesis Gonzalez, the Community Education Program Coordinator for Mujeres Unidas, says more than 8,000 domestic violence incidents and disturbances were reported in Hidalgo County last year.

She says the warning signs are often present early on.

“It could start as something as small as, you know, when you get home, I want to make sure you get there safely. It sounds innocent, right? It's simple, but that easily could escalate to something a lot bigger. If the person's being constantly asked where they're going, what time they will be there for how long?” Gonzalez said.

All five children who were inside the daycare at the time of the shooting were unharmed, but authorities believe they may have heard the gunshots.

Gonzalez warns that even indirect exposure to violence can have a lasting impact on children.

“Loud noise and, you know, although they're little, they're going to go home and hear parents talk about it,” she said.

The investigation is ongoing, but the sheriff’s office says a day care employee who witnessed the shooting helped prevent further harm by following safety protocols.