Chaz
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Dad kills family after daughter calls 911
By Colleen Slevin
The Associated Press
December 28, 2002
DENVER -- An 8-year-old called 911 and told a dispatcher that her father had threatened to "pop" her stepmother with a handgun. Nine minutes later, police found the girl, her parents and her 4-year-old half-brother dead.
Funeral services were held Friday for the Hernandez family, victims of a murder-suicide in a middle-class neighborhood of Colorado Springs, a city 60 miles south of Denver.
Autopsies indicated that Ernest Hernandez, 40, shot his common-law wife, Tosha Wasserburger, 29; Michaela, 8; and Mykel, 4, with an automatic handgun before killing himself, the El Paso County Coroner's Office said. Hernandez was drunk at the time, officials said.
Michaela, a second-grader, called police at 3:22 a.m. Dec. 20 and said her parents were fighting. "My dad slapped her in her face and just pushed her back," she said.
She told the dispatcher she heard her father load a gun. "My dad's holding the gun telling that he'd pop my stepmom Tosha," she said.
At the end of the three-minute call, the dispatcher assured Michaela that officers were on the way and reminded her to stay safe and remain on the line.
Then there was a long pause and her stepmother was heard saying "She's calling 911." The phone went dead. Hernandez answered the phone when the dispatcher called back. He said, "911? Who called 911?" before hanging up.
Officers arrived at the rented house nine minutes later, police spokesman Lt. Skip Arms said Friday. When no one answered the door, they kicked in the front door and found the bodies in a downstairs bedroom.
Hernandez had personal and financial problems. His heating and air conditioning company had been struggling, and the bank was about to repossess the company van, according to court records.
Police said Friday that Hernandez had lost his bid to win full custody of Michaela, his daughter from a previous marriage, on Dec. 19, the day before the slayings.
Hernandez went out drinking after the hearing, police said.
We dont need guns for self defense, we have 911. Way to go VPC, Brady Bunch, et all.
By Colleen Slevin
The Associated Press
December 28, 2002
DENVER -- An 8-year-old called 911 and told a dispatcher that her father had threatened to "pop" her stepmother with a handgun. Nine minutes later, police found the girl, her parents and her 4-year-old half-brother dead.
Funeral services were held Friday for the Hernandez family, victims of a murder-suicide in a middle-class neighborhood of Colorado Springs, a city 60 miles south of Denver.
Autopsies indicated that Ernest Hernandez, 40, shot his common-law wife, Tosha Wasserburger, 29; Michaela, 8; and Mykel, 4, with an automatic handgun before killing himself, the El Paso County Coroner's Office said. Hernandez was drunk at the time, officials said.
Michaela, a second-grader, called police at 3:22 a.m. Dec. 20 and said her parents were fighting. "My dad slapped her in her face and just pushed her back," she said.
She told the dispatcher she heard her father load a gun. "My dad's holding the gun telling that he'd pop my stepmom Tosha," she said.
At the end of the three-minute call, the dispatcher assured Michaela that officers were on the way and reminded her to stay safe and remain on the line.
Then there was a long pause and her stepmother was heard saying "She's calling 911." The phone went dead. Hernandez answered the phone when the dispatcher called back. He said, "911? Who called 911?" before hanging up.
Officers arrived at the rented house nine minutes later, police spokesman Lt. Skip Arms said Friday. When no one answered the door, they kicked in the front door and found the bodies in a downstairs bedroom.
Hernandez had personal and financial problems. His heating and air conditioning company had been struggling, and the bank was about to repossess the company van, according to court records.
Police said Friday that Hernandez had lost his bid to win full custody of Michaela, his daughter from a previous marriage, on Dec. 19, the day before the slayings.
Hernandez went out drinking after the hearing, police said.
We dont need guns for self defense, we have 911. Way to go VPC, Brady Bunch, et all.