Mom Shoots 7-Year-Old, Self In Sachse Murder-Suicide
SACHSE (CBSDFW.COM) - Police in Sachse say a mother shot her young son, then turned the gun on herself Friday.
Police chief Dennis Veach tells NewsRadio 1080 KRLD the mother and her husband, who is the boy's father, were in the process of getting a divorce, and the dad had been granted sole custody of their 7-year-old this morning following a year-long custody battle.
Veach and another officer went to the mom's home at the request of the father Friday morning as he went to retrieve the boy. As they approached the front door, they heard three gunshots.
KRLD's Barbara Schwarz reports:
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Once the officers got inside the home they found the mother and son dead in an upstairs bedroom.
Veach says the couple had been estranged for a year and a half, and their relationship had been very rocky. "It's just a terrible, terrible event," Veach said.
Texas Child Protective Services told CBS 11 it had investigated the family previously, and sent its finding to the court. Sachse Police says they have been callled to the house before, but not for anything violent.
The mother was identified late Friday as Karen Hayslett-McCall, a former professor at University of Texas at Dallas. The child was identified as her son, Eryk.
UTD released a statement Friday saying the university was 'deeply saddened' by the news. She had taught policing and crime victimology at the Richardson school from 2002 until last spring. UTD said Hayslett-McCall left the university in June.
Eryk attended second grade at Tibbals Elementary, a Wylie ISD school. The school district says they were informed Friday morning of the child's death, and sent a letter home to parents, but did not tell the students in class.
The school, which was scheduled to have Monday off already, will make counselors available to students Tuesday.
