Broward Sheriff’s Office says Miguel Hernandez handed a gun to Camille McGonigle and encouraged her to shoot herself; he’s now charged with manslaughter.
Miami Herald File
Camille “Cammy” McGonigle died earlier this year after she fatally shot herself, but months later Broward Sheriff’s deputies now say that’s only part of what killed her — pointing the finger at her boyfriend who put the gun in her hand and told her to do it.
Miguel Hernandez, 41, was arrested Sunday and charged with manslaughter by culpable negligence in connection to the death of 37-year-old McGonigle, the sheriff’s office said. As of Wednesday evening, he remained at the Broward Main Jail.
On the afternoon of Jan. 24, Hernandez’s mother called 911 in a panic as she thought she heard gunshots coming from his efficiency.
‘Help her, help her’
Hernandez and McGonigle lived in the efficiency for the past year and few months as a couple, an investigation report read.
Deputies rushed over and found McGonigle in a pool of her own blood but still breathing. Hernandez was on top of her, holding her, “Clearly distraught, crying, sweating and physically shaking,” the report said.
Deputies initially detained Hernandez given his emotional state. “Help her, help her,” he shouted. Oakland Park Fire Rescue loaded her into a rescue truck.
“I noticed her face was covered in blood and the back of her head was bleeding onto the clean white sheets of the stretcher,” a BSO investigator wrote.
A fleet of deputies ushered the paramedics through traffic as they raced to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale. She later died from “injuries considered non-survivable.”
Investigators questioned Hernandez about the shooting. They said he told them that McGonigle had a history of making suicidal statements in the past, which often happened during their fights.
Her brother died by suicide about two years earlier, which Hernandez would remind her of to stop her from making those comments, deputies said.
The afternoon McGonigle shot herself, the pair was having another argument where she allegedly said she’d kill herself. He said he again brought up her brother to stop her, but that did not dissuade her.
‘Go ahead and do it’
The Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled she died by suicide from a gunshot wound to the head.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office spent months processing the scene and collecting medical findings, witness statements and additional evidence. What they say they discovered was that Hernandez retelling of that afternoon was starkly different from the alleged facts.
Detectives said he escalated the argument and “actively facilitated” McGonigle shooting herself.
Hernandez had previously told investigators that she picked up the gun, cocked it and then later shot herself. He also said he didn’t “immediately” stop her because he didn’t believe she would fire the weapon.
Surveillance video inside the efficiency captured the entire ordeal, deputies said. It showed Hernandez rack the slide of the gun to chamber a round, handed the firearm to her and “repeatedly encouraged her to shoot herself” right before she did, deputies said.
“Go ahead and do it. Go ahead and do it, you p****,” he yelled at her as she held the gun.
Investigators say his actions directly contributed to the circumstances that led to her death.
 Cropped (2).jpg)
Miami Herald
Miami Herald Cops and Breaking News Reporter Devoun Cetoute covers a plethora of Florida topics, from breaking news to crime patterns. He was on the breaking news team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2022. He’s a graduate of the University of Florida, born and raised in Miami-Dade. Theme parks, movies and cars are on his mind in and out of the office.