PORT ST. JOHN, Fla. – A Space Coast mother fatally shot her four children and then herself Tuesday morning at their Port St. John home, authorities said.
Brevard County sheriff’s deputies said Tonya Thomas, 33, killed her four children.
Sheriff’s spokesman Tod Goodyear said three of the children went to a neighbor’s house early Tuesday to say their mother had shot them. Goodyear said Thomas then called the children back to the house and killed them.
“The resident says all three children went back to the house, but we know from the crime scene that one did not make it back in the house,” Goodyear said. “That’s the victim that we found out in the front yard.”
Goodyear said the neighbors called 911.
More than a month before the shootings, authorities were called to Thomas’ house on three successive days because of fights and allegations of inadequate supervision.
In the first visit on Easter Sunday, Thomas reported her son had thrown a bicycle through a window at the house. The next day, Thomas called to report that her son had kicked and punched her when she tried to wake him up for school. The next day, child welfare investigators visited the house to look into allegations of inadequate supervision of the children.
The children have been identified as Joel Johnson, 12; Jazline Johnson, 13; Jaxs Johnson, 15; and Pebbles Johnson, 17.
