Arizona Celebrity Chef Found Guilty of Killing Wife and 2 Young Children on Christmas Day 2017 By Becca Longmire

An Arizona chef has been found guilty of killing his estranged wife and two young children on Christmas Day in 2017.

On Monday, Nov. 3, a Maricopa County jury convicted Anthony Milan Ross, 53, of three counts of first-degree murder following the death of his ex, Iris, and their two children, 11-year-old Nigel and 10-month-old Anora, per AZ Family.

He was also found guilty of three counts of aggravated assault following the brutal killings, as well as 17 counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer, the outlet reported.

Ross reportedly shot at Phoenix Police Department officers, and they fired back in an hours-long standoff after they stormed his apartment, AZ Family stated.

As previously reported by PEOPLE, the murders occurred the day after Ross posted a video on Instagram showing himself and his son Nigel wishing everyone a merry Christmas and singing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

“I’m smiling and hanging out with Nigel on Christmas Eve and we are about to embarrass ourselves,” Ross — who was a vegan chef, motivational speaker and entrepreneur who promoted a plant-based lifestyle — said, laughing. 

“We are going to sing,” he added in the clip, before the pair broke into the song.

A day later, 38-year-old Iris Ross was discovered lying outside on the front patio of her ex’s Phoenix apartment after being shot.

Witnesses told officers at the time that they saw Ross shoot his ex-wife as she attempted to run away from him, according to allegations in a probable cause statement previously obtained by PEOPLE. After that, he returned to his apartment, and they heard two to three more shots.

Police then found the bodies of his children in different rooms inside the house.

The murder trial into the deaths began in September of this year, with opening statements discussing Ross’ celebrity status as a vegan cook, per the Arizona Republic.

“He thought about it before he did it. He meant to do it, and then he did it. Why?” Maricopa County prosecutor Richard Dusterhoft told the jury in his opening statement, according to the Arizona Republic.

The prosecutor said that Ross — who appeared in the 2016 documentary Eating You Alive — had been dependent on his estranged wife, who filed for divorce in 2017, and her income to maintain his celebrity lifestyle, per the outlet.

“His five minutes of daytime TV fame was up. The money, the success — all a facade. And so was the perfect family,” Dusterhoft told the court, according to the publication.

“He told people, ‘Expect something big on Christmas,’” the prosecutor said, alleging that Ross had come up with a plan that included searching for guns, battery acid, sulfuric acid and more, on the internet. He also looked up news of a man killing his family on Christmas Day, per the Arizona Republic.

Defense attorney Carrie Gallagher previously alleged such searches were done amid Ross’ mental health struggles and periods of “poor sleep or even no sleep,” the outlet noted.

“During the same period of time that Milan [Ross’ middle name as he was known professionaly] was researching online, he was also engaging in future-oriented activities, and he was generally planning for the future,” she said, adding that he proposed to his girlfriend three days before Christmas and had adopted a dog, among other things, per the publication.

Gallagher added that Ross had drunk half a bottle of whiskey while extremely depressed on Christmas Day 2017, before messaging his estranged wife Iris about being hurt ahead of the killings, the Arizona Republic stated.

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As previously reported by PEOPLE, Iris’ sister, Mary Wogas, said Ross had allegedly been acting erratically and threatening her sibling, a director and health care administrator, after she filed for divorce in June.

Wogas told ABC 15 Arizona in December 2017, “One minute he was yelling at her, calling her a ‘whore,’ and the next minute wanting to tell her he loved her and wanted them to be a family unit,” adding, “He would also claim that he was working with a voodoo priest in New Orleans to put a hex on her. Just very, very dark, very dark intentions.”

The Clerk of Superior Court, Maricopa County, Phoenix Police Department and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information.