The estranged husband of a Tennessee woman accused of fatally shooting her two children and her grandmother before taking her own life earlier this month is speaking publicly about the tragedy.
Jeremiah Thompson told local WSMV this week that he noticed no signs of a mental health crisis in the days leading up to the Jan. 2 shooting at the family’s home.
Heather Thompson, 32, is accused of shooting and killing her 4-year-old son, Arius Thompson, her 13-year-old son, Isaiah Johnson, and her 88-year-old grandmother, Evelyn Johnson, before turning the gun on herself.
In an emotional interview, Thompson said he is still struggling to process what happened.
“It’s my boys. I just can’t believe she did this,” he told WSMV. “My wife was a good person. I just don’t understand how this happened.”
Thompson said he and Heather were separated but remained in regular contact, speaking daily. He lives in New Mexico, while she had been living in Tennessee.
“If you were feeling overwhelmed, why didn’t you just let me know? You can just say, ‘Hey, Biah, I need a break. Can you please just take the boys for the summer or for the rest of the year?’ I would have gladly done that,” he said.
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WSMV reported that a funeral service for the four family members was held Tuesday night. Thompson attended and met with relatives, friends, and people connected to his children, including classmates and friends.
“I know when I go home, when I see my mother cry, that’s when I think everything will come out again,” he told WSMV. “But right now, I’m just holding it together.”
Thompson has launched a GoFundMe to help cover expenses “to bring my boys back home to New Mexico from Tennessee,” he wrote. The fundraiser has raised more than $17,600 in recent days.
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He also shared his grief publicly on social media on the night of the deaths.
“As a father it hurt and shattered my soul to hear my sons, Arius (Ari) and Isaiah have been taken from me and are no longer with us,” he wrote. “They were just babies. Every second of today I wish I could just wake up.”
ABC affiliate WKRN reported that Heather, her sons, and her grandmother lived in Humphreys County, Tenn.
Their bodies were discovered inside the family’s home after the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office conducted a welfare check on Jan. 2, WSMV previously reported.
