Before Fatally Shooting Her Two Daughters, Texas Mom Said to Husband, 'This is About Punishing You,' Says Family Friend
The Texas mom who fatally shot her two daughters before she was shot dead by police on Friday "was out to kill that day," according to a family friend.
"I always knew something would happen, but I never thought she would do this," Madison Davey tells ABC13 about Christy Sheats, 42.
Police say Sheats convened a meeting in the living room of the family home in the Katy area before opening fire on her daughters Taylor, 22, and Madison, 17, and continued as they fled outside, where they died. Her husband Jason, 45, escaped.
"Christy was toxic for the family," Davey said, adding, "She was mentally unstable." A press release from the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office said officers responded to 14 calls for service at the home since January of 2012.
Davey said she spoke afterward to Jason, who described tension in the home on his birthday Friday, where an argument between the quarrelsome couple had broken out, leaving the daughters caught in the middle.
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Police said Jason Sheats tried pleading with his wife, begging her not to hurt the girls. "Don't do this," he allegedly said to her. "They're our kids."
Said Davey, "He told Christy, 'Just shoot yourself. Make it easy on all of us, just shoot yourself,' and she said, 'No, that's not what this is about, this is about punishing you.'"
When Christy opened fire on the two daughters, they and their father ran out the front door. Madison collapsed outside. Taylor reached the street and was shot again by her mother, detectives said.
A witness reported that Christy went back inside to reload the gun that investigators identified as a five-shot, .38-caliber handgun, then was observed by arriving officers as she shot Taylor again. When Christy ignored their order to drop the weapon, an officer fired a shot that killed her.
Davey said the gun Christy used was an heirloom passed down from Christy's great grandfather to "protect her family."
Davey described Jason as "the best dad ever." "He would do anything to protect them and he tried to," she added.
"I would hang out with him and he loved being around us. And they were so funny," she said of Madison and Taylor. "For sisters, you would think they would fight, but no. They loved each other a lot and were always laughing."
Davey said Madison and Taylor will be buried this week in Alabama, and she is assisting with the funeral plans.
