Early this morning, just before dawn, three Florida teenagers knocked on a neighbor's door for help. They said their mother had shot them. But before the neighbors could wipe the sleep out of their eyes the teens' mother came out of her house, calmly called the children back home, and killed them all before killing herself.
We all have those moments in our lives that we wish we could do over again. When we had the chance to prevent a disaster -- but we weren't paying attention, or we weren't brave enough, or we just didn't fully comprehend what was going on. This must be how those neighbors are feeling.
Tanya Thomas had four teenagers: Pebbles Johnson, 17; Jaxs Johnson, 15; Jazlin Johnson, 13; and Joel Johnson, 12. Three of them had tried to get help from the neighbors before Tanya called them back inside their house. Then the neighbors heard gunshots and called the police.
It was after these horrifying events that the neighbor also noticed that he'd received a text message from Tanya in the middle of the night. It said that Tanya wanted to be cremated with her children. But of course the neighbor had been fast asleep when that message came through. Again -- a chance to intervene was missed.
These neighbors of the Johnson kids will be forever haunted by what happened practically right before their eyes. The teens had been a little troublesome, as many teens are. But how was anyone to know that their mother would kill them all and herself? No one ever wants to believe that a mother would do such a thing.
Do you think the neighbors suspected this might happen or do you think they were surprised?
Image via alexisnyal/Flickr