June 19, 2013
PORT ST. JOHN, Fla. (AP) - More than a month before a Florida mother fatally shot her four children and then herself, authorities were called to the woman's home because of fights and allegations of inadequate supervision.
Dispatch records released today show that authorities responded to Tonya Thomas' house on three successive days in April.
Deputies say Thomas fatally shot her four children at their Port St. John home early today.
They say three of the children had been able to escape from the home and tell a neighbor they had been shot. But they say the mother then emerged from her house and calmly told the children to come back home. And when they did, she shot them again, before taking her own life.
The children ranged in age from 12 to 17.
