HOUSTON, Texas--The Texas mother who gunned down her two daughters at a suburban Houston home was angry about a pending marriage for one of them, and may have let her husband survive so he would have to live with the anguish of losing his family, police said on Wednesday.
The mother, Christy Sheats, 42, called a family meeting on Friday to discipline her daughter Taylor, 22, who was to be married in a few days. The mother pointed a gun at her husband and then shot each daughter one time in the house, Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls told a news conference.
The mother fired more shots inside as the husband and daughters fled. Christy Sheats was later shot by police as she stood with her five-shot, .38 caliber handgun near her daughters.
"According to Mr. Sheats, she wanted to blame him for what had taken place," Nehls said. "He did state that she accomplished what she set out to do and that is to make him suffer."
On scream-filled 911 calls from the incident, the daughters pleaded for their lives. "Please. Forgive me. Don't shoot," one of the daughters said, and then a shriek is heard followed by crying, in the tape released on Tuesday by the sheriff's Office.
"Please! I'm sorry," said one of the daughters in the call placed from the phone of Madison Sheats, 17 who was killed along with her sister Taylor, 22.
Christy Sheats' husband, Jason Sheats, can also be heard pleading to prevent the shooting. In a call from Taylor's phone, screams can be heard along with a voice faintly coughing before the call is cut off.
Madison died outside after fleeing. Taylor was shot again. Christy Sheats went back inside apparently to reload and then shot Taylor once more, this time in the back, a witness told the sheriff's office.
According to her Facebook page, Christy Sheats was a strong backer of gun rights. In September, she posted a message to her daughters, calling them "amazing, sweet, kind, beautiful, intelligent girls," adding, "I love and treasure you both more than you could ever possibly know."
Christy, who had been suffering from depression, had applied for a concealed handgun license and was denied, the husband told the sheriff's office. The sheriff's office said it received 14 calls requesting its services from the Sheats residence since January 2012.
