DAVID and SAVANNA MOHNEY - 11 and 14 yo (10/14) (Injured, Lauren Mohney 9 yo) - / Shooter: Father, David Mohney a suicide - Port Orange, FL

Dad Accused of Killing Kids, Self Wanted New Life

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Oct 17, 2014, 7:12 PM ET
By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press



A stay-at-home dad in nasty divorce with his wife shot their three children Friday, killing two of them before fatally shooting himself inside the family's Florida home, authorities said.

The Mohney family's troubles were apparently well-known in their middle-class neighborhood just south of Daytona Beach. In a 911 call, a neighbor told a dispatcher that neither parent should have had children because they were "a little bit selfish and self-centered" and said "you can't believe either one of them."

The slayings occurred as David and Cynthia Mohney were entrenched in a bitter divorce after nearly 25 years of marriage. Court filings showed David Mohney wanted to leave his wife and move with their children to South Dakota. He had recently finished chiropractic school while she supported the family working as a physician's assistant, making $220,000.

Nearly a month after he filed for divorce, the husband sought a protective injunction against his wife June 3. He said in court papers his wife had been drinking heavily and slapping him and their children on their chests, backs and arms. Florida's child welfare agency said Cynthia Mohney had recently been treated for substance abuse.

After the couple's fight Friday morning, Cynthia Mohney fled to a neighbor's house to get help. In the 911 call, she can be heard crying hysterically, saying "Oh my god!" repeatedly, as her unidentified neighbor talks to a police dispatcher. When the dispatcher asks if she thinks her husband will harm the children, she said, "Yes, he will."

The slain children were 11-year-old David Mohney and 14-year-old Savanna Mohney, Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said.

Nine-year-old Lauren Mohney was also was shot and in stable condition at a hospital. Cynthia Mohney wasn't injured.

"If he wants to commit suicide, let him commit suicide. To shoot the children, that's cowardly," Johnson said at a news conference outside the family's home.

Deputies received a call at 5:11 a.m. Friday. Arriving deputies found the two girls in an upstairs bedroom and the boy was in a bedroom on the first floor. Their father was in the kitchen with a handgun next to him.

In his divorce filing, David Mohney said his family moved to Florida in 2010 so he could study at Palmer College of Chiropractic's campus in Port Orange. He graduated in September 2013, but failed his first time taking the board exam and hoped to try again soon. He said in the court papers that returning to Rapid City, South Dakota, had been his family's plan all along, but his wife had become opposed to it.

He said his children also wanted to make the 1,900-mile move to get relief from their allergies and because they found the Midwest region better suited their "morals and values." David Mohney said he and his children also "prefer living in a climate with snow to celebrate Christmas and other holidays."

When he filed for divorce, David Mohney said little about problems with his wife. He made more specific accusations when he asked a Volusia County court for a protective injunction June 3.

In that filing, David Mohney cited four instances between April 4 and May 29 in which he said his wife had slapped one or more of their children. He said his wife would hit the children — sometimes several times — for arguing with each other, talking back to her, or for not picking up their toys and clothes when she told them to.

"The 'hits' described in the examples are loud and hard, beyond corporal punishment," David Mohney wrote. "My children were crying, afraid and trying to duck or get away from Cynthia."

However, he dismissed the request for protection two weeks after filing it.

The state's child abuse hotline was notified in June that Cynthia Mohney had a substance abuse problem after an incident at a restaurant. Cynthia Mohney followed through on treatment, according to the Department of Children and Families.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/police-man-shot-kids-fight-wife-26267431

Church service remembers murdered Port Orange children

Posted: Updated:
By Jackie Orozco, Reporter





PORT ORANGE, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) - Family, friends, and classmates gathered Sunday morning to remember and cope with the loss of two Port Orange children who were killed by their father. According to Volusia County deputies, David Mohney shot three of his children, killing two of them, and then turned the gun on himself.

Sunday morning two church services were held at Cypress Creek Elementary School. Lauren Mohney, 9, is a student there. She is the only survivor from Friday's shooting. Savanna Mohney, 14, was a freshman at Spruce Creek High School. She ran cross country. Her teammates and parents attended Sunday's service, many of them too emotional to speak.

Nancy Bazian's daughter ran cross country with Savanna. She said the last few days have been difficult for everyone, “We just have to be there for them (the children), let them talk and listening is the most important.”

Christ the King Community Church Pastor, Scott Kirscher conducted Sunday's service. He was also Savanna's cross country coach.

“We're going to grieve together and try to make some sense to what has happened although it's senseless and look to the word of God."

Volusia County deputies say 52-year old David Mohney shot all three of his children before killing himself. Savannah and 11 year old David Mohney were killed but 9 year old Lauren Mohney survived. She's in stable condition at Arnold Palmer Hospital. Detectives say the murder-suicide stemmed from a domestic dispute with the children's mother. The couple was going through a divorce.

"She's a hurting mom who's grieving the loss of her two children and still one clinging to life,” said Pastor Kirscher. “It's been great for her to see how much the community has come out to support her."

Saturday night there was a candle light vigil for the Mohney family. Another sign of how much the community has come together to show support and love for the children.

"I just want people to know that there is hope in Christ and this life is certainly short, each day is a gift and we shouldn't take it for granted,” said the pastor.

The pastor said there are plans of creating a memorial fund for the surviving child.



http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/26826229/church-service-remembers-murdered-port-orange-children

Father shot each child in the head more than once, Sheriff’s office says

By Lyda Longa
lyda.longa@news-jrnl.com

Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2014 at 5:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, October 21, 2014 at 9:30 a.m.

The 52-year-old father who murdered two of his children and critically wounded a third, shot each child in the head more than once, a Volusia County Sheriff’s spokesman said Monday.

David Mohney, 11, right, with his classmates in this photo was killed in Port Orange, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014. The siblings were victims of a murder suicide by their father David Mohney.
News-Journal/NIGEL COOK

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David Mohney then shot himself in the head with his 9-mm handgun, said sheriff’s spokesman Gary Davidson.

Lauren Mohney, 9, the youngest child in the Mohney family, was listed in stable condition Monday at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando. The young girl remains in a medically induced coma, Davidson said.

In a short statement released Monday afternoon, divorce lawyer Douglas Kneller said his client David Mohney had been “under the care of a mental health expert,” and that the father was “very concerned about the day-to-day and long-term safety and wellbeing of his children.”

The killings, which have made international headlines and have shocked and saddened not only the Mohneys’ neighbors, but also the classmates of their children at three different Volusia County schools, occurred Friday morning just before sunup on Jackson Lane inside the idyllic rural community of Spruce Creek Farms.

Cynthia Mohney — David Mohney’s wife of 25 years and the mother of the three children, Savanna, 14, David, 11, and Lauren — ran to a neighbor’s residence to call for help after she and David Mohney argued, said Sheriff Ben Johnson. Moments after neighbor Al Burgin called 9-1-1, it was discovered that David Mohney had shot all three of his children and had turned the gun on himself.


http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20141020/news/141029943?tc=ar

What an evil SOB.  His poor wife, the mother of the murdered and injured children has to live with this.

The surviving child will have a hell of a time adjusting to the murders of her siblings, the guilt feelings from being a survivor, and the hell she has lived through.  I pray she recovers physically and is given psychological help for dealing with the mental issues this horrendous event has visited upon her.