Two Florida boys, ages 7 and 8, shot by mother in murder/suicide

William Rashley (left) and Daniel Rashley (right), ages 7 and 8

Donna Gayle McCulloch had suffered many years of an abusive marriage, difficult divorce, and a car crash that paralyzed her from the waist down and put her in a wheelchair.  Perhaps those were factors which drover her to shoot her two young children in their St. Johns County, Florida home with a handgun before taking her own life.

Her children, 7-year old William (Ben) Rashley and 8-year old Daniel Rashley, were found by her parents next to her body.

From the article and Sheriff's press conference:

But what led the St. Johns County mother to apparently shoot her two boys and then herself in their home Thursday night remains a mystery, Shoar said. The sheriff said he didn’t doubt that both burdens left McCulloch, 40, desperate and possibly played a role in the shootings. But she left no note in the murder-suicide.

“The truth is, it’s inexplicable,” said Shoar, noting it’s still early in the investigation. “We’re not 100 percent sure what went through her mind.”

The bodies of Julington Creek Elementary second-grader Daniel Joel Rashley, 8, and his brother, first-grader William Benjamin Rashley, 7, were found with their mother by her parents about 4:30 p.m., Shoar said.

They routinely checked on the mother and children and made one of those stops at their home at 504 Loveland Place when they found the bodies, Shoar said. There was no forced entry.

(a related article with more details on her past problems)

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