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Five Kids Found Shot Dead After Dad's Suicide
Update:
The mother tearfully spoke with reporters on Monday.
She said she'd had enough, and wasn't going to take the abuse anymore. She didn't return home from work Friday evening but told the oldest child she would be back for them. "I had enough, I couldn't take it anymore."
She described each one:
• James Jr., 7, was "the Energizer Bunny. He just kept going and going and going." He was a stay-at-home type and "extreme [video] gamer" except when he went out to ride his dirt bike.
• Heather, 8, was a "second Maxine." "Everything Maxine did, she wanted to do." Both sisters were big readers.
• Samantha, 12, was the family comedian. "She always had something funny to say," including when others in the family were down. "Always just dancing around, goofy."
• Jayme, 14, "pretty much kept to herself. " She loved video games and took in stray cats.
• Maxine was "the big reader. " Her favorite books were science fiction. "If she wasn't reading, she was sleeping."
Read mother's words here at the Seattle Times.
Graham, Washington - A 35 year old man has apparently shot and killed his 5 children at their trailer home near Seattle on Saturday, and then killed himself in his car outside a casino miles away.
The children ranged in ages from 7 to 16, four of them murdered in their beds, the fifth slain in the bathroom.
The father is James Harrison and the children are Maxine, Samantha, Heather, Jayme and James. The mother was not at home- neighbors say they were arguing on Friday night and she walked out.
Police early Saturday found the father slain from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was in his car, parked near the Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn, about 30 miles south of Seattle. Later in the day, Pierce County deputies checked the mobile home, which is about 20 miles southeast of the casino, and found four of the children dead in their beds and the fifth in the bathroom.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (9)
at 07:14 on April 5th, 2009
I'd say it's a tragedy, too.
at 11:07 on April 5th, 2009
A sign of the times for sure.......end of days is near......time to bring back God to the forefront of your life and find Jesus
at 11:56 on April 5th, 2009
very sad
at 12:02 on April 5th, 2009
This is just plain horrible! :(
at 12:48 on April 5th, 2009
Yes, tragic! It seems like the world, or people's minds, are going to pot these days...
This one wasn't due to the falling economy, apparently, because MSM is reporting that both parents were working. It seems that more and more people are cracking under pressure, and I'm sure we don't hear the half of it.
So is our main problem the stress of job loss/the economy? Or lax gun restrictions in some countries?
at 14:07 on April 5th, 2009
If you look a little deeper you will see the reason. This man was 19 when he impregnated a 13 year old girl, the mother of these children. She's been with him 16 years, since she was a child. He controlled her every move, CPS called on a number of occasions. Typical situation, man not mature enough to deal with the responsibility of what he has done, the girl's parents being stupid and uncaring enough to say NO! to this marriage, the mother, now 29, was finally seeing that her life was passing her by while she stayed with this control-freak father who's self-esteem came from being able to control and manipulate his children and his wife. She found someone 'normal', or more emotionally together than her husband and decided to leave. If I had been watching this from a TV screen, I would have said, 'now she's left him, he's to weak to deal with it," Now he'll kill the kids, her and then himself ". He tried to find her, but failed, so he just shot himself before he would have to deal with the police. Someone should have seen it coming.
at 19:48 on April 5th, 2009
That is absolutely horrendous, but all so common. Not the killing part, but the controlling, manipulative spouse part. A lot of them threaten, most never follow through. I feel for her!
at 16:05 on April 8th, 2009
Just forget the 1929 St Valentine's Day massacre for it pales in comparisons to this new enlightened 21st-century age of mass murder, of which we find ourselves part of today. words alone cannot express the deep sorrow and rage that possesses my heart. this kind of horrific slaughter has become all too common, and i seriously doubt that we have seen the worst that is yet to come.
So sorry for the Mother of all the victims, i can only imagine the living Hell she's now going through.
at 16:18 on April 8th, 2009
In One Month, 57 Die In Eight Mass Murders; these children and their father are part of this 'statistic. It's frightening!