A Tennessee nurse shot her two young sons and their grandmother before taking her own life in what appears to be a quadruple-murder suicide, police have said.
Deputies with the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office arrived at an address in Waverly on Friday morning to conduct a welfare check and found the bodies of two women and two children.
The victims were later identified as Arius Thompson, 4, Isaiah Johnson, 13, Evelyn Johnson, 88, and Heather Thompson, 32, according to local outlets. All had died of apparent gunshot wounds.
Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said the incident was being treated as a murder-suicide and that preliminary evidence showed that Heather Thompson had killed the three others before herself.
However, no further details, including a possible motive, have yet been released. Davis said that there was no evidence of forced entry and there was no indication that anyone else was involved in the tragic incident.
“I know the family,” Davis said during a press conference Friday afternoon, per WKRN. “We’re going to do right by them. We’re going to respect them, and we’re going to do right by them.”
Heather Thompson was reportedly estranged from her children’s father, Biah Thompson, who replied to a post from the sheriff’s department, writing: “I miss my sons already. Daddy still loves you. Sorry I was at work.”
Davis added that there had been no prior history of domestic violence or mental health-related calls associated with the household.
In a separate post, Thompson wrote: “This morning I got a call that I don’t wish on any other parent.
“As a father it hurt and shattered my soul to hear my sons, Arius(Ari) and Isaiah have been taken from me and are no longer with us. They were just babies. Every second of today i wish i could just wake up.”
Thompson added that funeral arrangements were yet to be made and asked for help raising money to have the bodies of his sons brought back to New Mexico from Tennessee.
The investigation into the matter remains ongoing, in conjunction with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, though authorities have stressed that there is no active threat to the community.
The Independent contacted the Humphreys County Sheriff’s office for updates on the case, though none were available as of Sunday.
If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you. In the UK, people having mental health crises can contact the Samaritans at 116 123 or jo@samaritans.org
