[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
A Florida man has been accused of killing his stepdaughter and stepson-in-law in order to get revenge on his wife after a fight.
The horrifying story comes out of Panama City where Newell Mock (pictured above) reportedly got into a disagreement with his wife Rhonda Mock, according to the Panama City Police Department. Last Friday, December 13, a “domestic dispute” between the elderly couple allegedly triggered something sinister within him.
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Police say during the argument the 67-year-old “armed himself with a handgun” and, in fear, his 65-year-old wife made a break to “flee from their home”. Rather than chasing after her, though, he allegedly took Rhonda’s phone and car… and went to his stepdaughter Jessica Johns‘ house. There, officers say he did the unthinkable and “forcefully entered the residence and immediately engaged Jessica and [her husband] Joshua with gunfire, striking each of them several times”.
Even more harrowing, the couple’s 5- and 7-year-old children were home at the time of the “targeted attack”. Awful.
When responding officers made it to the scene, per the PD, “Mock was sitting on the front porch, still armed with a handgun”. They attempted to talk him down, but there was no getting through to him. He died by suicide. The report states:
“Officers attempted to de-escalate Mock, but he refused to engage in dialogue before fatally shooting himself. Mock did not threaten the officers, and no officers discharged their weapon.”
Once law enforcement made their way into the home, they sadly found Joshua deceased and Jessica in critical condition. As they rushed her to the hospital, a volunteer Chaplain stayed with the children until a family member came to pick them up. As of the last reporting, the 40-year-old mother of two is still in the hospital.
It’s unclear what drove Newell to allegedly commit such a heinous crime, but there is speculation he could’ve been under the influence of alcohol. Panama City Police Chief Mark Smith said in a press conference earlier this week it was likely an act of revenge:
“His anger was really directed at his wife, but when he couldn’t expel that anger towards her, he decided to hurt her family, in order to hurt her.”
And now two babies have lost a father, and their mother is critically wounded… Heartbreaking.
A GoFundMe has been set up by the family to pay for Joshua’s funeral expenses and Jessica’s medical care. If you’d like to donate, you can click HERE.
Our heart goes out to this poor family. We just hope Jessica makes a full recovery, and the family can find some peace amid such an unthinkable tragedy.
[Image via Newell Mock/Facebook]