PORT ST. JOHN, Fla. — WFTV learned more on Friday about the four children who investigators said were shot and killed by their mother in Port St. John.
The Department of Children and Families released information about the family on Friday.
DCF spokeswoman Carrie Hoeppner told WFTV that there is nothing in the 300 pages of documents that might have given a clue that Tonya Thomas would gun down her children and then take her own life.
“Not only are there not red flags, sometimes there are no flags,” said Hoeppner. “That's really what makes it most difficult to understand why.”
Thomas was a victim in the latest report that stated her 15-year-old son had assaulted her and thrown a bicycle though a window of the family's home during a two-day ordeal in April.
The 33-year-old mother killed her children, Joel, Jazlin, Jaxs and Pebbles Johnson, Tuesday morning as they pleaded for help from frightened neighbors.
One report from a 2000 incident of domestic violence between the children's mother and father stated that the kids were removed from the home for about a month.
“That decision was made after a domestic violence incident between the mother and the father,” said Hoeppner. “And the mother had actually gone back into the home in violation of an injunction.”
In 2007, one of the children was investigated after making unwanted advances on another student at her school.
The latest case was closed a few days before the tragedy that left the whole family dead.
"The mother had signed an agreement with the department, just weeks before this tragedy that said if there was another incident of domestic violence in the home that she would call law enforcement," Hoeppner said.
A viewing for all five family members will be held Sunday at the St. James AME Church in Titusville.
A public funeral is planned for Monday at 4 p.m. at the Temple Bapist Church. According to a family spokesperson, the family will be buried together.
WFTV
