Attorney: Port Orange husband told wife to call off divorce or he'd kill their kids

PORT ORANGE, Fla. — An attorney for a woman whose husband shot their three children and then himself at the family's Port Orange home last week detailed the horrific event while sitting down with Channel 9 on Tuesday.

Last week, 52-year-old David Mohney shot his three children, killing two, before turning the gun on himself at the family's home in the Spruce Creek Farms subdivision.

Zachary Stoumbos, the attorney for grieving mother Cynthia Mohney, talked with Channel 9's Karla Ray on Tuesday.  He said David Mohney had come into the room where his wife was sleeping and woke her up under the ruse that their son wasn't feeling well.

"He guided her into the kitchen and proceeded to show her that he had a gun in his hand," said Stoumbos.

Raw: Attorney describes horrific details

Photos: Mohney family pictures

Photos: Scene in Port Orange where children were shot

The couple, married 25 years, was in the middle of a divorce, which was expected to go into mediation in a few weeks, but David Mohney would not have it, said Stoumbos.

"He continued to tell her, 'You will be back with me,' and, 'This divorce was going to stop,'" said Stoumbos. "He did indicate to her that, 'If you don't come back to me and stop the divorce, I will kill our children.'"

Stoumbos said Mohney punched his wife in the mouth after telling her, "If you're going to take my kids away, you will not have them and you will go through the rest of your life without children. "

With no phone or weapon to protect herself, Cynthia Mohney ran to a neighbor's house for help.

As the call was being made to 911, she saw a flash from inside her home and ran back, but it was too late.

"She headed back into that house by herself, in the dark, where there had been gunfire," said Stoumbos. "If that's not a mom that is putting herself at absolute risk to protect her children, I don't know what is."

All three of the Mohneys' children had been shot. Savanna Mohney, 14, and David Mohney Jr., 11, were pronounced dead at the scene, as was David Mohney.

Investigators said the only surviving child, 9-year-old Lauren Mohney, remains in stable condition at Arnold Palmer Hospital, where she is in a medically-induced coma to try to stop the swelling in her brain.

When deputies got to the scene, they found Cynthia Mohney lying between her two daughters.

Stoumbos said the mother hasn’t left her surviving daughter's side at the hospital.

"It's just been the most traumatic, tragic event that one can imagine," said Stoumbos.

Stoumbos said David Mohney was on antidepressants, and testosterone injections were also found inside the home, though deputies wouldn't confirm that information Tuesday.

"His hate took over his love for his children," said Stoumbos. "I can't imagine that level of evil, that level of hate."

WFTV