A
stay-at-home dad in Florida who shot dead two of his children and
wounded a third before killing himself was in the midst of a nasty
divorce from his wife and had told her to call if off or he would go
after their kids.
According
to Cynthia Mohney's lawyer, David Mohney told her on the morning of the
murders, 'If you don't come back to me and stop the divorce, I will
kill our children.'
The
retired Army sergeant then reportedly punched her in the mouth at their
Port Orange, Florida, home, and added, 'If you’re going to take my kids
away, you will not have them and you will go through the rest of your
life without children.'
Tragedy:
David killed two of his children, 14-year-old Savanna (left) and
11-year-old David (right), and critically injured 9-year-old Lauren
before killing himself in their upscale Florida home
Killer and a coward: David (above) killed himself after killing his children
Zachary
Stoumbos, the attorney for grieving mother Cynthia, says her husband
woke her up early that morning saying that something was wrong with
their son, before taking her to the kitchen and showing that he had a
gun.
'He continued to tell her, "You will be back with me," and, "This divorce was going to stop,"' Stoumbos told WFTV.
Then, when Cynthia ran to get help, she heard shots fired while at a neighbor's home.
She immediately ran back to the house and was found lying between her two daughter when authorities arrived.
'His hate took over his love for his children,' added Stoumbos.
'I can't imagine that level of evil, that level of hate.'
David
had claimed his wife Cynthia was a violent, abusive alcoholic in court
papers filed just two months before he gunned down his children Friday
in their quiet, middle-class neighborhood just south of Daytona Beach.
The girls: Cynthia, with daughter
Savanna and Lauren, has not left the side of her only surviving child,
Lauren, since the incident occurred
Still stable: Lauren (above) is still holding on at a local hospital and in a medically induced coma
Smiling girls: The two sisters, Lauren and Savanna
However,
neighbors said both parents were troubled. In a 911 call before the
shooting, a neighbor told a dispatcher that neither parent should have
had children because they were 'a little bit selfish and self-centered'
and said 'you can't believe either one of them.'
He had recently finished chiropractic school while she supported the family working as a physician's assistant, making $220,000.
Nearly
a month after he filed for divorce, the husband sought a protective
injunction against his wife June 3. He said in court papers his wife had
been drinking heavily and slapping him and their children on their
chests, backs and arms. Florida's child welfare agency said Cynthia had
recently been treated for substance abuse.
The slain children were 11-year-old David Mohney and 14-year-old Savanna Mohney, Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said.
Nine-year-old Lauren Mohney was also was shot and in stable condition at a hospital. Cynthia wasn't injured.
'If
he wants to commit suicide, let him commit suicide. To shoot the
children, that's cowardly,' Johnson said at a news conference outside
the family's home.
Deputies
received a call at 5:11am Friday. Arriving deputies found the two girls
in an upstairs bedroom and the boy in a bedroom on the first floor.
Their father was in the kitchen with a handgun next to him.
Survivor: The wife was at the house of
a neighbor trying to get help in their Port Orange, Florida,
neighborhood when the shooting occurred while the children were asleep
at the home
In court papers, David Mohney said he
and his children 'prefer living in a climate with snow to celebrate
Christmas and other holidays.' Pictured: victim Savanna Mohney, 14
Little guy: Young David was pronounced dead on the scene
In
his divorce filing, David said his family moved to Florida in 2010 so
he could study at Palmer College of Chiropractic's campus in Port
Orange. He graduated in September 2013, but failed his first time taking
the board exam and hoped to try again soon.
He
said in the court papers that returning to Rapid City, South Dakota,
had been his family's plan all along, but his wife had become opposed to
it.
He
said his children also wanted to make the 1,900-mile move to get relief
from their allergies and because they found the Midwest region better
suited their 'morals and values.'
David Mohney said he and his children also 'prefer living in a climate with snow to celebrate Christmas and other holidays.'
When
he filed for divorce, David Mohney said little about problems with his
wife. He made more specific accusations when he asked a Volusia County
court for a protective injunction June 3.
Court filings showed David Mohney
wanted to leave his wife and move with daughter Savanna (pictured) and
her siblings to South Dakota
In
that filing, David Mohney cited four instances between April 4 and May
29 in which he said his wife had slapped one or more of their children.
He
said his wife would hit the children — sometimes several times — for
arguing with each other, talking back to her, or for not picking up
their toys and clothes when she told them to.
'The
"hits" described in the examples are loud and hard, beyond corporal
punishment,' David Mohney wrote. 'My children were crying, afraid and
trying to duck or get away from Cynthia.'
However, he dismissed the request for protection two weeks after filing it.
The
state's child abuse hotline was notified in June that Cynthia Mohney
had a substance abuse problem after an incident at a restaurant. Cynthia
Mohney followed through on treatment, according to the Department of
Children and Families.
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