Police: Man Fatally Slashes Son In Front Of Neighbors, Kills Wife LAKE MARY, Fla. -- A 40-year-old disabled Army veteran is accused of slashing his 11-year-old son to death with a machete in front of neighbors and killing his wife inside a home in Lake Mary, according to police.
Witnesses said they saw the boy, Nico Duzant, stagger out of the home located on 484 Queensbridge Drive bleeding from the neck and wrists and his father, Franklyn Duzant, 40, allegedly chasing him with the weapon.
The father kept attacking the boy while he was on the ground and then ran into the house, according to the report.
The incident happened on the boy's 11th birthday, authorities said.
Artie Bourgeois, who lives next door to the Duzants, said neighbors watching the attack yelled at Duzant to stop.
"He then started chasing them with a machete. It's crazy," Bourgeois said.
When officers arrived at the house, they found the man's wife, Evangeline Duzant, 52, dead. She was killed with the same object as her son, according to the report.
"Our job obviously is to find out how, why and just make some sense of this tragedy ," Seminole County Sheirff Don Eslinger said. "It is just absolutely horrific. I think inside of the house, it will give us a clearer picture of exactly what transpired but outside, I got to tell you, it is pretty brutal."
Franklyn Duzant was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center with unknown injuries.
Duzant underwent surgery at Orlando Regional Medical Center for injuries to his stomach, Seminole County Sheriff's Lt. Dennis Lemma said. He was in stable condition Saturday.
"At this point, we don't know how he the suspect got these injuries," Lemma said. "We don't know if they were self-inflicted or if there was a struggle."
"This obviously is a terrible tragedy for not only the family, witnesses and friends of the family," Eslinger said. "We will be distributing fliers for grief counseling in the neighborhood this weekend."
Duzant was taken into custody by deputies after a standoff in 2003 where threatened to kill himself in the middle of Reflection Lake at nearby Reflection Park
He was admitted for psychiatric evaluation, Eslinger said.
