An 11-year-old Barnhart boy, whom authorities believe was shot in the head by his mother before she killed herself, died early today (Feb. 12), the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The boy, identified as Sammy C. Schweitzer, died shortly after 5 a.m. at an area hospital, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The Sheriff’s Office suspects that Tara Kelleher, 49, Barnhart, shot her son early Saturday morning (Feb. 10), then turned the gun on herself. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
On Sunday, Sgt. Brian Taylor said deputies were called shortly after midnight Saturday to a home in the 7200 block of Valley Drive and found Kelleher and the boy with gunshot wounds.
Taylor said today deputies were reviewing evidence from the residence and computer forensic analysts were reviewing the woman’s phone for text messages and social media accounts for a clue to her motivations.
“Hopefully, we can get some answers,” Taylor said. “I would say that is probably a couple days to the end of a week until we can get a solid look at all of the evidence that we got.”
Taylor said authorities did not have a record of trouble at the home.
“There is no significant history of law enforcement intervention to this house, and we found no indication as to why she did this, such as a note or anything like that.”
Taylor said the woman’s fiance was sleeping elsewhere in the house and was awakened by what he described as a “boom.”
“We believe that was one of the shots,” Taylor said. “He was very cooperative, although the responding officers believed he may have understandably been in shock. He said that nothing out of the ordinary had happened earlier in the evening, certainly nothing that would lead to this.”
Taylor said the man is not considered to be a suspect in the case.
He said an investigation was ongoing.
“We’re looking into the woman’s cell phone, seeing whether she might have written something but didn’t post on social media, or a text message to a friend or relative that, while it might not have seemed odd at the time, it might point us in the right direction given what we know now,” he said.