[url=http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1227murder-suicidecall27-ON.html]Girl calls 911 minutes before murder-suicide[/url]

Associated Press
Dec. 27, 2002 02:30 PM

DENVER - An 8-year-old called 911 and told a dispatcher that her father had threatened to "pop" her stepmother with a handgun. Nine minutes later, police found the girl, her parents and her 4-year-old half-brother dead.

An autopsy confirmed that Ernest Hernandez, 40, shot his common-law wife, Tosha Wasserburger, 29; Michaela, 8; and Mykel, 4, with [red]an automatic handgun[/red] before killing himself. Hernandez was drunk at the time.

Michaela, a second-grader, called police at 3:22 a.m. Dec. 20 and said her parents were fighting. "My dad slapped her in her face and just pushed her back," she said.

She told the dispatcher she heard her father load a gun. "My dad's holding the gun telling that he'd pop my stepmom Tosha," she said.

At the end of the three-minute call, the dispatcher assured Michaela that officers were on the way and reminded her to stay safe and remain on the line.

Then there was a long pause and her stepmother was heard saying "She's calling 911." The phone went dead. Hernandez answered the phone when the dispatcher called back. He said, "911. Who called 911?" before hanging up.

A second call was picked up by the answering machine for Hernandez's business.

Officers arrived at the rented house nine minutes later, police spokesman Lt. Skip Arms said Friday. When no one answered the door, they kicked in the front door and found the bodies in a downstairs bedroom.

Hernandez had both personal and financial problems. His heating and air conditioning company had been struggling, and the bank was about to repossess the company van. He also was behind in paying state taxes.

Police said Friday that Hernandez had lost his bid to win full custody of Michaela, his daughter from a previous marriage, on Dec. 19, the day before the slayings.

Police had been called to the home in July and October because of domestic disputes.

Quoted:
[url=http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1227murder-suicidecall27-ON.html]Girl calls 911 minutes before murder-suicide[/url]
[red]an automatic handgun[/red]As an aside:

"automatic handgun"? Hmmm... why do I not think so?