A tragic story circulated recently but somehow went under the radar somewhat and did not grab as much attention as I expected it to. There have been a few stories that mention it but there is a part of the story that I wanted to address that I have not yet seen mentioned in previous articles about the subject. I am referring to Christy Sheats, a Texas mom who was killed by police while refusing to drop her weapon after she used it to kill her children. The family of four included Christy, her husband Jason, and their two daughters, Madison (17) and Taylor (22). Jason Sheats is the only one who is still alive following this incident. For the most part, this is painted as something that was completely unexpected. Facebook accounts suggest that the mother had a good relationship with her daughters. There did not seem to be anything externally visible that would lead anyone to believe something like this was about to take place.

On Friday, June 24th, Christy called her family to a meeting, pulled out a handgun, and shot both of her daughters. The incident is said to have occurred on Jason’s 45th birthday. A neighbor, Fazz Zainuddin, stated he heard Jason saying, “Don’t do this. They’re our kids.” However, that was not enough to stop Christy. After shooting both girls inside of the house, the kids and their dad fled out through the front door. Madison collapsed and died. The mother then turned her attention to Taylor who she shot once more before returning to the house to reload her weapon. Taylor was shot once more and would later die at the hospital as a result of her injuries.

This is truly a tragic story but parts of it do not seem to add up. The fact that she called a family meeting in order to get everyone gathered together shows that this assault was premeditated so it makes me wonder if there were any other signs that the family may have missed. Let’s face it, killing your own children, especially adults that you can legally kick out of the home if you do not want them there, is insane. It would be just as inexcusable if she had just snapped, grabbed a gun, and shot her children; but the fact that she planned it out and calmly called a family meeting to which they showed up unsuspectingly is a different batch of crazy altogether.

Additionally, the father was in attendance at the “family meeting” but was the only one left alive after the fact. Not only that, but he was completely unharmed. There were at least five bullets fired and none of them were shot in his direction. This suggests that he was never a target. It was reported that the couple had been separated for a time and had just gotten back together. It could be possible that the reunion was a façade designed by the wife to get him back into the house so she could make him suffer by forcing him to witness this tragedy. Christy was shot by a police officer on the scene so the motive may never be revealed.

That is not what bothers me the most though. I am a father myself and I know if a gun was pulled anywhere in the vicinity of my daughter, I have one job at that point and saving my own life isn’t it. I was not there, but it seems to me if there was time for him to tell his wife not to do this, then there was time for him to do something about it. Madison died as they were running out of the house so maybe he could not have done much to save her as I assume the initial shooting happened pretty quickly. But I am having a hard time with how the events played out after that. The mom actually has time to go back into the house and reload the gun before coming back out and shooting Taylor for a third time. It cannot be said for sure that the third shot was the one that led to Taylor’s death, but it can be said that the father was nowhere near his daughter after they ran out of the house. When a gunman takes time to reload, a hero takes that time to get a victim to safety.

There was nothing in any of the articles I have seen to date to suggest that the father did anything to try and save his daughters. I do not want to be insensitive. After all, this man just lost his entire family and walked away without a scratch; but I cannot imagine abandoning my daughter(s). Again, I was not there but it does seem he had opportunities to make a difference. He could have attempted to take the gun immediately. He could have huddled around his daughters and attempted to shield them. He could have tended to Madison when she collapsed as they exited the house. He could have run into the house and prevented the mother from reloading the gun. This list could go on, but he just ran. Hindsight is 20/20 and I get that, but I really wish there was anything in the reports to suggest he did more than tell his wife not to do this.