4-Year-Old Girl Was Supposed to Go Home with Dad. Mom Killed Her After Custody Hearing, Police SayKC Baker,
Vivian SavellaCredit: Family attorney
A 4-year-old girl was found dead of a gunshot wound on Tuesday, Sept. 29, in Houston, Texas, police said
The girl’s mother sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound and died of her injuries the next day, police said
Earlier that day, the court granted the girl’s father temporary custody, allowing the mother to see her only in supervised visits, the father’s family said
Just hours after a custody hearing, a 4-year-old Texas girl was allegedly shot and killed by her mother, who then suffered an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and later died, police said.
On Tuesday, Sept. 29, at about 5:45 p.m., Houston police responded to a report of a shooting at a townhome inside a gated community in the 300 block of Terra Reserve Place, Houston Police Lieutenant Larry Crowson told reporters at a press conference.
When officers arrived, they found the girl, later identified as Vivian Savella, dead with at least one gunshot wound, Crowson said.
Her mother suffered an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and was rushed to a local hospital, where she was initially listed in critical condition, Crowson said.
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She died the next day, authorities said, the Houston Chronicle,Fox 26 Houston and 11 Alive report.
Vivian’s mother was engaged in a custody battle with the girl’s father, Crowson told reporters.
“She became distraught and shot her child,” he said.
In court Tuesday, Aaron Savella, Vivian’s father, was granted temporary custody and the right to determine his daughter’s primary residence and make decisions about her medical care and education, the Chronicle reports.
Under the temporary order, Vivian’s mother, identified as a 35-year-old woman, was limited to supervised visits with her daughter, per the Chronicle.
According to a statement from the girl’s family, Vivian was supposed to return home with her father on Tuesday night, 11 Alive reports.
“Our family is devastated. Vivian was 4 years old,” her family said in a statement released through attorneys on Wednesday, per 11 Alive. “She was loved without limit by her father, Aaron, and by everyone whose life she touched.”
Source: Crime
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