‘Please, don’t shoot’: Daughters futilely beg mom to stop in 911 calls during fatal Texas shooting
By Katie Mettler June 29 at 5:19 AM
washingtonpost.com
On the day she gunned down her daughters in the middle of the street, Christy Sheats — described by friends and family online as a loving, proud mom — was wearing a purple dress.She had gathered her family — her husband and daughters, Madison, age 17, and Taylor, 22 — for a meeting in the living room of their suburban Houston home, authorities told the Associated Press. Then, she started shooting.
The gunfire spilled into the street outside. Sheats’s husband, Jason, escaped to a nearby cul-de-sac without injury, authorities said. Their daughters weren’t as lucky.
One died in the street as terrified neighbors called for help and took cover. The other died at a local hospital.
When police arrived on the scene, Sheats refused to drop her weapon, authorities said. An officer shot her dead.
The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office has not yet determined what led to the bloodshed Friday night, only that it began after a family argument. Deputies had responded to the home more than a dozen times in the past, reported the AP. A sheriff’s office spokesman told People magazine the calls involved a “mental crisis” related to the 42-year-old mother.
On Tuesday, in 911 calls released by the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office, the true horror of the tragedy that unfolded there last week, one that has the nation once again tangled in a contentious debate about guns and mental health, became a bit clearer.
In the calls, the daughters can be heard crying and screaming, begging for their lives.
“Please! Forgive me! Please, don’t shoot!” one of the daughters screams, according to the AP.
“Please, I’m sorry,” a female voice cries. “Please! Don’t point that gun at her!”
Much of the call is muffled, hardly audible. At one point, a deeper voice says: “I promise you, whatever you want.”
Then the line goes dead.
When the family ran outside, fleeing Sheats’s bullets, the daughters, both already shot, collapsed in the street, reported the AP.
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