COLTON >> Family members say a toxic relationship has left several children without a mother or father after authorities say a San Bernardino man shot and killed his estranged girlfriend — and then himself.

“My brother was a good brother and an excellent father,” said Shaebawnte Brown, 24, of her brother Arbret Brown, 39, of San Bernardino, who police say opened fire on the mother of his children Thursday night in the parking lot of a Colton business park.

“She wasn’t that bad of a woman, either, but this relationship was bad, but I don’t think any of us thought it would end this way,” Brown added. “There was a lot going on that people don’t know about.”

Colton police, who have not identified either person killed Thursday night, said the shooting took place around 8 p.m. in the parking lot of a business park at 1430 E. Cooley Drive, according to Cpl. Ray Mendez.

Family members, however are identifying the couple as Arbret Brown and Patricia Quintero, 31, of Rialto.

Soon after the shooting, family members “drove her away and called 911,” Mendez said.

Officers caught up with the fleeing family in the 1100 block of North Mount Vernon Avenue and realized the woman was in critical condition, he said.

Paramedics took her to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, where she later died.

Initial reports indicated the woman was shot at the Mount Vernon Avenue location, but Mendez clarified that both shootings took place at the Cooley Drive business park.

Police found Brown in the parking lot with at least one gunshot wound and he was pronounced dead.

Investigators wouldn’t say if an argument had taken place before the shooting or why the couple had met at the parking lot.

Brown’s family said the couple had been together off and on for nearly 10 years and Quintero had been a maternal figure for Brown’s teen daughter.

“My heart breaks for them all,” said Jolana Garcia, a longtime friend of Quintero who remembered her as feisty.

During one of the couple’s off periods, Garcia said that Quintero met a man and moved into a Redlands home with him.

During a fight in October, police say that the man, Jeremy Stan Rice, 31, of San Bernardino, stabbed Quintero, chased her into the street and then attacked a passer-by who tried to help Quintero. Rice has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon charges. He is scheduled to be back in court July 18.

“She will be missed,” Garcia said. “Regardless of what she was struggling with, she did not deserve to have her life taken.”

Shaebawnte Brown said she received a text from her brother about an hour and a half before the shooting but she wasn’t able to answer him.

“I told him I was at work and couldn’t answer,” she said. “When I called him later, there was no answer, no answer, no answer. Then at 4 this morning that’s when I got the news.”

She said her brother was dealing with health issues, along with the relationship problems, and believed he may have been feeling overwhelmed.

“I wonder if someone would have answered the phone if someone could have talked him out of it,” she said.

Shaebawnte Brown worries that in the wake of the shootings, her family may not be able to see the couple’s children.

“We really worry that they may grow up and not know this side of the family,” she said. “There is no hate over here, just hurt.”

She added: “They have a little 1-year-old. She didn’t get to know her mom or dad.”

The Colton Police Department encourages anyone with information to call 909-370-5028 or 909-370-5000.