Police Say Mother Murdered 4 Kids Before Killing Herself

For the past week or so, residents of Florida’s Brevard County have been fiercely debating whether their library system should have banned Fifty Shades Of Grey. Early this morning, their attentions were ripped away by a devastating and unnecessary tragedy. Four children are dead. Police suspect they were murdered by their own mother, a thirty-three-year-old who later turned the gun on herself.

Exactly what happened is still a bit unclear, but authorities descended on the home after a 911 call reported shots were fired. One female was found deceased in the front yard at around 5 AM. Two hours later, a SWAT team entered the house and discovered four more bodies. According to USA Today, there are unconfirmed reports the mother, Tonya Thomas, sent a text message to a friend asking to be cremated with Joel, 12, Jazlin, 13, Jaxs, 16 and Pebbles Johnson, 17, but police are neither confirming nor denying that story.

By most accounts, the kids were occasionally a handful. Neighbors have said they frequently ran around until all hours of the night. It would seem the mother finally reached her breaking point this morning, but we likely won’t know the full details until a thorough investigation is launched and autopsies are completed.

The past few decades have been littered with stories of mothers taking their children’s lives, but each of those prior cases doesn’t make this one any less painful, if Thomas did in fact commit the atrocity most are accusing her of. Pop Blend’s thoughts go out to the surviving family members, as well as all of Brevard County.