Brevard County, Florida, on May, 15, 2012, a 33-year-old mother shot and killed her children, two boys and two girls, ages 12-17, and then killed herself. The family was stamped as the “Problem Family” in the neighborhood where they lived. The shooting spree took place during the early morning hours. In the middle of the shooting spree, three of the children ran out of the house to seek help at one of their neighbor’s house. The neighbor described the children as “trying to break the door down,”. The neighbor admitted to opening the door and seeing blood on one of the children but was bewildered as to what was going on, so he placed a 911 call. The children were never let into the house. The neighbor says that when he went to get towels, the mother called the children to come back home. The neighbor did not question the mother as to what was going on and allowed the children to return home. One of the children collapsed in the front yard, where she later died. The following shots the remaining shots that took their lives were heard by the neighbor and the 911 dispatcher. The “Problem Family” is the “Dead Family” now.
Some people in the neighborhood told reporters that the police had been called out to the home several times. They said that the children were always getting into things. A neighbor said that the oldest boy, 15-years-old, was constantly in trouble and believed that the mother was trying to get help for him. Everyone seems to be unsure about what set the mother off to kill her family.
At the family home, a make-shift memorial, full of football jerseys, teddy bears and flowers covered the front porch, the driveway and the lawn. There were so many people visiting the home, that the police were called to observe the crowd.
Where are people when you really need them?
This is an all around sad story. It’s sad that this young mother was pushed to make this final decision for herself and her family. It’s sad that she sought help from the local law enforcement agency and probably received little to no help.
I say this because I’ve called on law enforcement to help me get a message across to my son (even if it could’ve been to scare him up). And when they came out–they made it seem like I had no authority and he (my son) had authority. I felt like law enforcement had actually gave my son more nerve to be disrespectful. I could only blame myself for that because after all, I had taught him that law enforcement officers are powerful and trustworthy people. And as parents, we all know that our children know that we are powerful and trustworthy too, but we are also on the frontline for when our children want to be rebellious. I have to believe that no parent wants to call the police on their child. But when they do, law enforcement should come out with reinforcement–especially when the call is something as simple as dealing with a defiant child. Law enforcement agents should take the call serious and extend themselves to whatever measures that will help the child understand that the parent is only looking out for their best interest.
I don’t know the ends and outs about this young mother and her family, but I strongly feel like if a quarter of the adults (law enforcement officers, neighbors and all) that stood outside of the victims home on patrol and mourning their deaths, would’ve been their to support the mother and her family when they were alive, then just maybe they all would be alive today.
Mothers Against Unethical Laws (MAUL) 