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An Ohio woman fatally shot her husband, 13-year-old son, and 74-year-old father before turning the gun on herself. Her 20-year-old daughter was also shot but survived and remained hospitalized in critical condition.
Authorities said that they spoke with Theresa Cain and informed her that her house was under foreclosure and that her family was being evicted. Cain assured the officers that her family had a place to go and asked for more time to pack up the last of their belongings.
They agreed and said they would come by on Monday (February 27) at 10 a.m. Cain was standing on the porch when deputies arrived but quickly ran inside.
The officers knocked on the door, but nobody answered, so they went inside. As one of the deputies entered the house, he heard a quick succession of gunshots.
After initially retreating, the officers went back inside the home and found Cain dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They found her daughter was still alive, and she was rushed to the hospital.
Authorities noted that nothing inside the house had been packed, leading them to believe that Cain hid her financial struggles from the rest of her family.
"It is tragic and unnecessary," Clermont County Sheriff Steve Leahy said. "'What can we do to keep this from happening again?' Well, I'm just not that sure that we can. When people are in crisis, it's not as easy as just reaching out and saying, 'I need help.' They are spiraling. Nothing makes sense."
"What we see here, you can't make sense of this. Murder is a senseless thing, but then you throw in suicide and the homicide of your family. It's all very sad. This lady had been totally cooperative the entire time."