A woman, Christy Sheats, fatally shot two of her daughters to death in an ugly incident which was apparently the result of a family dispute that spilled out from their home and onto the street in Fulshear, Texas, on Friday.
The 42-year-old woman called a family meeting in the living room of the family home in Katy on Friday afternoon and then shot her daughters Taylor Sheats, 22, and Madison Sheats, 17.
Although her husband, Jason Sheats, was at home at the time of the shooting, he was lucky to have escaped death as he ran to the neighbor’s house for help.
When the Texas police arrived the scene at about 5 p.m, Christy Sheats was found standing in the street near the bodies of her children.
The mother was eventually killed by a responding police officer after she refused to put down the gun she used to murder two of her own daughters. According to The Daily Mail reports, Troy Nehls, a Fort Bend County Sheriff, said:
“Christy was still holding a pistol, and a Fulshear police officer was forced to shoot her after she refused to put it down.
“It is unclear whether Christy was pointing the gun at the responding police officer or at one of her daughters.”
Madison was pronounced dead at the scene, and Taylor died from her injuries at the hospital a short time later.
Jason Sheats told investigators that he assumed his wife was gathering their daughters to tell them they were divorcing. Instead, she pointed a gun at them, shooting them multiple times — but she didn’t fire at him. The woman revealed that the aim of her senseless murder was to punish her husband.
Speaking to reporters in a conference on Wednesday, the Fort Bend County Sheriff, Troy Nehls said:
“We asked Mr. Sheats for a motive in his own words. He stated that he felt Christy wanted him to suffer.
“Mr. Sheats stated that Christy knew how much he loved Taylor and Madison and how much they loved him. By killing his children, Mr. Sheats will have to live the rest of his life with this horrible memory.”
A friend of the family, Madison Davey, disclosed that the shooting had been an escalated version of the couples frequent fights. He told KTRK-TV that the fight between the couple had turned deadly during Jason’s birthday on Friday, June 24, 2016 at the family suburban home and in the heat of their argument:
“He told Christy, ‘Just shoot yourself. Make it easy on all of us, just shoot yourself,’ and she said, ‘No, that’s not what this is about, this is about punishing you.
“I always knew something would happen. I never thought she would do this. Christy was toxic for the family. She was mentally unstable.”
“He ( Jason) would do anything to protect them and he tried to, but Christy was out to kill that day.”
Reports revealed that Christy Sheats had a history of depression and heavy drinking. Her marriage had been in a “downward spiral” since 2012 and although the couple had been married for more than 20 years, they had been separated several times, she was on the brink of divorcing her husband before the incident.
Christy had also been admitted to a private mental health facility on three separate occasions for attempted suicide and at the time of the shooting, she was unemployed.
