Three young sisters have been shot dead by their drug addict father who also turned the gun on himself at the California church.
Gatekeepers News reports that David Mora-Rojas’ victims were Samantha Mora Gutierrez, 10; Samarah Mora Gutierrez, 9; Samia Mora Gutierrez, 13.
The Sacramento County Coroner’s Office Nathaniel Kong, 59, an executive at The Church in Sacramento, was also shot and killed.
Kong was chaperoning the three sisters to the visit because the girls’ mom – Mora-Rojas’ ex-girlfriend – had obtained a restraining order against Mora-Rojas.
One of the girls, Samantha would have celebrated her 11th birthday on Wednesday.
Officials said Mora-Rojas, 39, was under a restraining order from his longtime girlfriend and not supposed to have a gun, which he used to shoot his three daughters, their chaperone and himself at 5pm on Monday.
Kong was an executive with the nondenominational Christian church who had served Mora with that restraining order in May.
At the time of the killings, Mora was out on bail after being arrested on several charges, including assaulting a police officer.
A GoFundMe campaign that has been launched by the girls’ aunt has drawn more than $31,000 in donations as of Wednesday.
Sgt. Rod Grassmann, the spokesperson for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, called Mora’s decision to shoot and kill his children ‘unfathomable.’
Oscar Maldonado, a friend of the family, told CBS Sacramento that Mora was a hard-working but aggressive man who was battling drug abuse and mental health issues.
“He was very emotional, like really emotional,” Maldonado said.
Court documents paint a disturbing picture of verbal and physical abuse inflicted by Mora on his estranged girlfriend, who is the mother of their three daughters.
Mora “is a very jealous person,’ the woman wrote in her request for the restraining order. ‘He threatened to kill me if he ever caught me cheating… He has choked me in the past.”
She said he told her he hadn’t killed her ‘because he would not know where to go with the children.’ In the filing, she said he might flee to Mexico, where he had family.
“I am scared and nervous. I am afraid (Mora) is going to hurt me. I do not want to return home,” wrote the woman, whose name was withheld because she is an abuse victim.
The woman also said he was hospitalized for a week in April after “expressing a desire to commit suicide.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom, in statement, said: “Another senseless act of gun violence in America – this time in our backyard. In a church with kids inside. Absolutely devastating.
“Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and their communities. We are working closely with local law enforcement.
“Our thoughts are with the community, parishioners, and all those impacted by this horrific event.’
The Mayor of Sacramento, Darrell Steinberg, also tweeted about the incident on Monday night.
“This is an unspeakable tragedy. It happens too often, and tonight it happened in our backyard. First thoughts are with the victims and their families. Same to the first responders who have to confront such a horrible scene.”
