A grieving mother has expressed her fury toward the father of her children after he allegedly killed them in a suspected murder-suicide.
Olivia Piccolo told police that she went to collect her children, seven-year-old Remy and five-year-old Aria, from their father’s home in Cocoa, Florida, on Wednesday as part of a custody handover.
Authorities said Piccolo tried to contact their father, 37-year-old Joseph Dingwall, before going to the residence when he failed to respond.
When she arrived, the front door was ajar. Inside, she found her two children and their father fatally shot, according to the Cocoa Police Department.
The circumstances of the shooting remain unclear. In the days since the deaths, Piccolo has shared the depth of her grief and anger.
In one Facebook post, she appeared to criticize Dingwall for failing to protect their children.
‘I’m still in shock. You were supposed to be their protector. Their provider. One of their safe places. I’m so angry,’ the heartbroken mother wrote.
‘But my anger will never ever outweigh my love for my children. From the minute I found out I was going to be a mom, my whole entire life changed.
‘I don’t have much to say right at this moment, but I want everyone to know Remy and Aria deserved so much more and how proud I was to be their mother. I will always love you, and I promise you will be remembered for who you both are, not by what happened.’
Police said Olivia Piccolo found her two children, seven-year-old Remy and five-year-old Aria, shot dead inside their father’s home in Cocoa, Florida, on Wednesday afternoon.
Police believe their father, 37-year-old Joseph Dingwall, shot the children before turning the gun on himself.
‘I swear I’ll love you forever and ever, and I will let every person in this world know how amazing each of you are.’
In another post, Piccolo described the painful reality she has been forced to confront.
‘Tonight I switched over my laundry that had been sitting in my washer untouched since Tuesday evening…… I saw tiny socks, I saw tiny underwear (pull-ups is what Aria called it for a while), I saw husky boys underwear, and I saw so many boys’ T-shirts,’ she wrote.
The post, shared on Saturday evening, continued: ‘I stopped for a second and said I can’t do this. But then something in me reminded me that I can do it. My children have given me the strength since they were born to keep pushing through, no matter how hard it might be.’
After police were called to the home, a neighbor said he had heard what sounded like gunshots approximately 12 hours earlier.
‘Two gunshots. Two clear gunshots, and it was 12.20 a.m., midnight,’ Marcos Garcia told WESH 2, adding that he heard the noises from across the street.
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It remains unclear whether the sounds came from the home involved in the case. Collier said no 911 calls were received around that time.
The circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting remain unknown, while Piccolo has continued to share her grief in the days since the tragedy.
Authorities said Piccolo went to the residence, pictured, after she was unable to contact the children’s father.
Police said they had been called to the home 11 times since 2021 for ‘a variety of calls,’ including ‘medical and suspicious activities,’ Cocoa Police Department Chief Evander Collier IV said.
When asked about the details of the calls, Collier said he did not have that information.
Footage captured from a neighbor’s security camera appeared to capture Dingwall outside the home around the time shots rang out, according to police.
An investigation into the fatal incident remains ongoing. The Daily Mail contacted the Cocoa Police Department for comment.
A GiveSendGo fundraiser has since been launched to help Piccolo raise money for her children’s funerals.
According to a friend who started the campaign, Remy was just shy of his eighth birthday.
He and his little sister have been described as ‘two very precious and deeply loved children,’ the page read.
A GoFundMe page was also set up to help raise funds for the family.
Footage captured from a neighbor’s security camera appeared to capture Dingwall outside the home around the time shots rang out, according to police
Remy and Aria have been described as ‘two very precious and deeply loved children.’ He was also a ‘fierce protector of his little sister and his mother’
‘Anyone who knew Olivia, even for a short amount of time, knew about her children. You couldn’t know Olivia without knowing how much Remy and Aria meant to her.
‘They were her entire world. Her life revolved around them, and every part of her heart belonged to being their mother,’ the fundraiser read.
Remy has been remembered as a ‘fierce protector of his little sister and his mother,’ it continued.