A Guatemalan immigrant who has been deported twice has been charged with murdering a mother and her two young children after sneaking back into the US.

Marvin Oswaldo Escobar-Orellana, 31, was arrested Tuesday night in connection with the shootings of 29-year-old Rossibeth Flores-Rodriguez, her 11-year-old daughter Grecia Daniela Alvarado-Flores and five-year-old son Ever Jose Mejia-Flores in Des Moines, Iowa.

Flores-Rodriguez came to work with Escobar-Orellana at his roofing company.

They shared a home together, and that is where Flores-Rodriguez's body, along with the bodies of her two children were found.

Daniela and her brother, Ever,were found shot inside their home in Des Moines

Escobar-Orellana also had a wife and kids of his own, but they were not home at the time of the murders.

Following the shootings, authorities said he called 911, and later claimed that he had only shot Flores-Rodriguez in self-defense after she shot her own children.

Marvin Oswaldo Escobar-Orellana has been charged with fatally shooting 29-year-old Rossibeth Flores-Rodriguez, her 11-year-old daughter and five-year-old son

But in a criminal complaint, police say that according to an unidentified witness, Escobar-Orellana shot Flores-Rodriguez during an argument and then went inside the family's condo and shot the children, the Des Moines Register reported. Ballistic evidence supports the witness' account of what happened, police said.

Marvin Esquivel Lopez was arrested and charged with the deaths of Rossibeth Flores-Rodriguez, her 11-year-old daughter Grecia Daniela Alvarado-Flores and five-year-old son Ever Jose Mejia-Flores

'The best way to characterize this relationship is roommates. We don't know how they came to be acquainted but the victims in this case were renting the lower portion of the duplex from the suspect and his family,' Sgt. Paul Parizek told NBC-affiliate WHO-DT.

According to ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer, he was previously deported from the United States in 2010 and again in 2011 for being in the country illegally. He had been living under the name Marvin Oswaldo Esquivel-Lopez.

'He has a prior federal conviction for illegal entry into the United States in 2010. He is not currently in ICE custody,' Neudauer added.

The 31-year-old appeared in court on Thursday in Des Moines but did not enter a plea and is being charged with three counts of first-degree murder.

Escobar-Orellana's next hearing will be on July 29.

The Des Moines Public Schools issued a statement following news of the deaths, saying in part, 'Our hearts are heavy over the murder of Grecia Daniela Alvarado-Flores, Ever Jose Majia-Flores, and their mother Rossibeth Flores-Rodriguez. Grecia just completed fifth grade at Moulton Elementary School and Ever was about to be in kindergarten. Please keep their family - along with our students, staff and teachers at Moulton - in your thoughts.'