Wednesday 23 May 2012

Mother shot her four teenage children 18 TIMES at close range with revolver and reloaded three times before turning gun on herself, autopsy report reveals

  • Mother Tonya Thomas fatally shot her four children, ages 12-17, last week
  • Autopsy report shows horrors of shooting, as some children were shot at point-blank range in chest
  • Used hollow-point bullets, which cause most tissue damage and blood loss

A Florida mother shot dead her four children at point-blank range and reloaded her revolver three times, according to a chilling new report.
The medical examiner’s report shows that her four teenaged children were shot a total of 18 times with hollow-point bullets. The last shot was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to 33-year-old mother Tonya Thomas’ heart, the medical report shows.
Thomas fatally shot her children Pebbles, 17,Jaxs, 15, Jazzlin, 13, and Joel, 12, before turning the gun on herself on May 15, shocking the quiet neighbourhood.
Scroll Down for Video and to Hear the 911 Call
Victims: Tonya Thomas' four children are seen here in school pictures, clockwise from top left: Pebbles 17, Jaxs, 15, Joel, 12 and Jazlin, 13; the autopsy report shows they were shot a total of 18 times
Victims: Tonya Thomas' four children are seen here in school pictures, clockwise from top left: Pebbles 17, Jaxs, 15, Joel, 12 and Jazlin, 13; the autopsy report shows they were shot a total of 18 times

Farewell: People attend a funeral service for mother Tonya Thomas and her children yesterday at the Temple Baptist church in Titusville, Florida; five white caskets sat in front of the church
Farewell: People attend a funeral service for mother Tonya Thomas and her children yesterday at the Temple Baptist church in Titusville, Florida; five white caskets sat in front of the church
Medical examiner Dr Sajid Qaiser said in his report that Jaxs was shot point blank in the chest three times, and was discovered in the family room of her Port St John, Florida home.
Suicide: Tonya Thomas, seen in a a 2002 mug, shot her children a total of 18 times, an autopsy report shows
Suicide: Tonya Thomas, s, shot her children a total of 18 times, an autopsy report shows
Pebbles, who was found in the front lawn, died from three gunshots fired more than three feet away, Florida Today said.
Their sister Jazzlyn was shot seven times, two of which were shot directly into her chest. The teenager was discovered in the home’s foyer.
Florida authorities said that Thomas’ revolver held only six clips, meaning she had to reload her gun four times.
They estimate that it took her around 20 seconds each time to reload the .38-calibre revolver.
Hollow-point bullets are the most dangerous, as they cause the most tissue damage and blood loss.

 
Neighbours of Thomas made a 911 call as they responded to hearing gunfire coming from the property next door and went downstairs after their front door was knocked.
'I knew this was gonna happen you guys,' the crying female caller told the dispatcher as the deaths of the teenagers unfolded in front of their eyes.

'The boy's in our front yard - get him a towel - he's got blood on his right side.'

During the chaotic phone call to dispatchers, the husband tells them that he is armed and willing to defend his house from the injured children trying to flee their murderous mother.
'I grabbed my gun and ran outside and one's laying there bleeding at the front door,' the man is heard to say.
Fatal: Pebbles Johnson, 17, was taken by police car to an ambulance but later died from her injuriesTragic: Pebbles Johnson, 17, (pictured) was found having been shot in the front yard
Tragic: Pebbles Johnson, 17, (pictured) was found having been shot in the front yard. She was taken by police car to an ambulance but later died from her injuries
Jaxs Johnson, 15, (pictured) was among those found dead inside the houseKilled: Jazlin Johnson, 13, (pictured) was shot dead by her mother
Young: Jazlin Johnson, 13, (left), and her brother Jaxs Johnson, 15, (right) were both killed in the shootings and Jaxs tried to gain entry into his neighbours house before he was killed but was refused entry
'I don't know who has the gun, so I'm not walking out there. I'm armed, but not going out there and putting myself in danger.'

After asking the husband where the bleeding child had gone, the caller responded that 'he went back to the residence.'
Soon after this the police arrived at 7245 Bright Avenue in Brevard County to see Thomas standing in the doorway of her front door holding a gun, before she went back inside.

Then the deputies discovered Pebbles lying fatally injured in the front yard of her house.

Shots were heard to ring out and as the deputies entered they discovered Jaxs, Jazzlyn, Joel and Tonya's bodies shot to death.

Authorities said they have no motive for the killings and are not sure why the children followed the mother's orders to return back to their house.

Dispatch records released on Tuesday show that authorities responded to Thomas' house on three successive days in April.

Evidence: Brevard County Crime Scene Investigators look for clues at the scene of the shooting in Port St. John
Evidence: Brevard County Crime Scene Investigators look for clues at the scene of the shooting in Port St. John

Unable to speculate: Police said they don't know what the mother's motive was for killing her four children
Unable to speculate: Police said they don't know what the mother's motive was for killing her four children
In the first visit, on Easter Sunday, Thomas reported that her son had thrown a bicycle through a window at the house. The next day,
Thomas called to report that her son had kicked and punched her when she tried to wake him up for school.

The following day, child welfare investigators visited the house to look into allegations of inadequate supervision of the children.

Records also showed that Thomas was arrested in 2002 on a misdemeanor battery charge for striking the father of her children. The charge was later dropped.

Two years earlier, she filed a domestic violence complaint against Joe Johnson, but that was dismissed after a hearing.

Neighbour Travis St. Peter, told Florida Today that the family was known in the area for being disruptive, with police often being called to the house.

'They were just known for being hoodlums,' he said of the children, adding that they were often seen running around late at night, 'terrorizing our dogs and setting off firecrackers'.

Standoff: Police were called to the Port St John scene at around 5am on Tuesday
Standoff: Police were called to the Port St John scene at around 5am last Tuesday

Calm before the storm: The Port St John neighbourhood where the family lived
Calm before the storm: The Port St John neighbourhood where the family lived
Jamie Hudson, whose mother lives two doors down from the family, told the Miami Herald that the boys in the family were known to shoot BB guns at a home across the street and had threatened to set it on fire.
A friend of Thomas told the Sentinel that he had woken to a text message sent by the woman at around 3am to say that she wished to be cremated along with her children. He did not see the message until he woke up this morning, hours after the killings.

Former Orange County Sheriff's Department officer James Copenhaver told CFNews13.com that deputies would be analysing Thomas’ phone activity in the days leading up to the shooting. ‘This may also give some insight as to why she did this,’ he said.

More would be known, he said, after the 911 tapes were released, including how many emergency calls were made and potentially how many shots were fired.
He said that toxicology tests would be run on her to determine whether or not she was taking drugs and added that domestic violence would likely have been involved, based on past experience of similar cases.

On a live chat with the former officer someone who identified themselves only as 'G' wrote that Thomas was a 'private, independent character', adding that there were 'so many components in her life'.
At least three of the children killed went to Space Coast Junior-Senior High School, according toCFNews13.com. Brevard Public Schools said grief counselors have been sent to the victims' schools.

Brevard County Sheriff's spokesman Tom Goodyear said that he was having a hard time trying to understand how a mother could commit such a grisly act.

'I cannot comprehend as a parent doing this to their children ... calling them back in and shooting them,' he said.


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