Florida Mother Kills Her 4 Children and Herself

Source:Msnbcnews

A Florida mother killed her four children and then shot herself Tuesday morning as Brevard County, Fla., deputies closed in on her Port St. John home, authorities said.

Deputies said the mother, identified as Tonya Thomas, 33, sent a warning text message to a friend before the shootings, but the friend didn’t see the text until later.Three of the children, at least one already wounded, fled to the home of a neighbor who had been awakened by gunfire, but Thomas immediately called the children back and killed them, sheriff’s spokesman Tom Goodyear said.

The neighbor called 911 as they left his home, Goodyear said

“She was very calm,” Goodyear said of the neighbor’s report. “She called them back and they walked back to the house.”

Arriving deputies found one of the children, Pebbles Johnson, 17, lying in the front yard of the Bright Avenue home and spotted a person at the front door, Goodyear said. The person ducked back inside after seeing deputies, he said. The teen was declared dead when she was transferred to an ambulance.

As a SWAT team arrived, officers heard gunshots inside. SWAT officers entered through a back sliding door just before 7 a.m., and found Thomas and three other children dead. They were identified as Joel Johnson, 12, Jazlin Johnson, 13, and Jaxs Johnson, 15.

Goodyear said the children’s father, who was separated from the family, had been notified of the deaths.

Also, a friend of Thomas told police she texted him during the night that she wanted to be cremated with her four children, Goodyear said. However, the friend did not see the text until after he woke up Tuesday morning and the incident was over. The friend, who was not identified, called police after seeing news of the deaths, he said.

Goodyear said police previously responded to the Florida “Space Coast” home, about 15 miles south of Cape Canaveral, for domestic disturbance calls involving Jaxs Johnson. He said the most recent call was about a month before Tuesday’s shootings.

“The cops have been called to that house many times because the kids were terrorizing the neighbors,” neighbor Travis St. Peter told NBC station WESH.

Goodyear said that of Tuesday afternoon, authorities had no motive for the killings.

The actual 911 phone call is below. It took a ridiculously long time for the cops get there.

Four Chicago Mothers killed on Mother’s Day

Source: ChicagoTribune

One of six young children who lost their mothers in a car accident, Sincere Terry, 4, learned Sunday that his mother was gone forever.

“I explained to him that she was gone in the clouds and she wasn’t going to be coming back,” said James Williams, the boy’s step-grandfather.

The boy’s mother, Tyshyra Hines, 21, and three friends were killed in an automobile accident Saturday night, minutes beforeMother’s Day officially began.

The four women died when the car they were in hit a support column for an elevated Green Line track on Lake Street just west of Cicero Avenue in the Austin neighborhood, authorities said.

Family and authorities identified the other women as Ieshia Nelson, 21; Bernadette Harris, 25; and Alicia Goston, 22. All four were mothers to young children, family said.

Three of the women died at the scene. Nelson was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital at 12:48 a.m. Sunday, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The car, traveling at a “high rate of speed,” ran into a light pole after hitting the CTA column and split in two about 11:55 p.m., according to a statement from Chicago police. No other information about the crash was available Sunday.

The Chicago Police Department’s major accident investigation unit is investigating the crash and will eventually do an accident reconstruction to determine the rate of speed and the cause of the accident.

Relatives said the women had been out for the night. Goston’s family said the women were on their way to Goston’s grandmother’s 61st birthday party.

Relatives, including Harris’ sister, Sheila Harris, said the young women didn’t go out a lot. Instead, they focused their attention on their children, work and school.

Bernadette Harris, mother to three children, wanted them to succeed, Sheila Harris said.

“She’d go above and beyond for her kids,” said Sheila Harris, 35. “She was an outstanding mother.”

She said the young children, Shundrea, 4; Shamyriah, 6; and Ramyiah, 8; had not yet been told about their mother’s death but would be told Sunday –Mother’s Day. The father of the two younger children is Hines’ brother.

Sheila Harris said her sister worked as a home caregiver for the elderly.

“She was a very kindhearted person,” Sheila Harris said of her sister, whom friends called “Bern.”

Hines, who had recently been laid off from a job at a pizzeria, was an easygoing person, said her father, Anthony.

“She was a good person,” he said of his daughter. “Easy to get along with.”

Goston’s family said she was a “girlie-girl” who loved to dress up and always had a smile on her face. The single mother to 2-year-old Jadan worked at a book factory.

“This was the worst Mother’s Day in the world. I’m the mother of four kids. I don’t have a celebration bone in my body,” Goston’s aunt Keke Goston said Sunday.

Nelson was the mother of a 2-year-old boy, who squeals and calls out “Eesh” for his mother when he’s happy, her mother, Yvette Harris, said.

She said her daughter was going to school to be a nurse’s assistant and was studying radiology. She was driven to make a better life for her and her son, Javarion.

“She was a very special, hardworking, kindhearted, happy-go-lucky person,” Yvette Harris said.

She said the boy has been asking for his mother.

“We told him we’re going to talk to him about Momma,” Yvette Harris said.

Williams, the step-grandfather to Hines’ 4-year-old son, said he’s going to make sure the boy remembers his mother.

“All I can do is show him pictures and explain the best I can,” he said.