PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Parents from Manatee Academy K-8 in Port St. Lucie are reacting to the devastating news that a beloved math teacher was killed in a murder-suicide.
WPTV has been speaking with parents about how they're handling this tough conversation with their children and how Jamie Felix, 45, is being remembered.
Parents and students said Felix will be remembered as a smart woman who loved her students and career.
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NewsChannel 5 spoke with a parent who said his kids were friends with Felix's children.
She was a teacher in the community and a friend, parent Daryl Faniel said.
"She was brilliant, and she was a great helper," Faniel said. "She taught at the school so she was always with the kids."
Faniel said his family was close to Felix, who police said was killed by her estranged husband Friday night at a West Palm Beach hotel parking lot.
Police said he then turned the gun on himself and shot himself outside a rental car facility. Police said this all happened in front of her two children.
"It's devastating," Faniel said. "My kid, he's 10 years old. Her son is 10-years-old. What can we tell them? What can I say to make them understand that?"
Her estranged husband was also a school employee until this past October.
Court records show at about the same time in October Jamie Felix filed for divorce and petitioned the court for protection due to domestic violence against her husband, Ray Felix, 60.
At the start of a new school week, students and fellow teachers returned to campus to find a pillar of their school no longer there.
"What happened is just a travesty," Faniel said. "It was a travesty. I can't believe it happened. It's devastated me, devastated my kids, my girlfriend. They were friends. They were recently texting days up until this thing that happened, trying to rekindle the boys back on the team together and now she's gone."
This will be a difficult week for many in the community.
The school district said grief counselors will be available on campus as long as needed.