Violent father awarded joint custody, but still slaughtered kids and ex-wife (Douglasville, Georgia)

Article is poorly written and misleading.

The first few paragraphs are devoted to the unsubstantiated speculations of the killer's enabling sister, who is in total denial. All of this has the purpose of setting up the man who killed four people, and wounded two more as a figure of sympathy--he "snapped" because he was "under stress" from losing his job, etc. We're supposed to feel sorry for him because he was supposedly forced to leave the military when the mother got pregnant--and that was 13 years ago. Plus, we're supposed to believe it was some huge hardship when he was forced to move "about a dozen miles" to be closer to the kids after the divorce, even though it meant he was pulled away from his "close knit family."

This doesn't even pass the smell test. Boo hoo poor you. NOT.

Twelve miles is nothing, especially in a state like Georgia where people tend to do a lot of driving. I sincerely doubt this was the equivalent of the ex moving halfway across the country. He wasn't forced to move at all. It's total bullsh**.

Of course, it's following by the usual shoulder shrugging by the cops. We don't know why he did it, blah blah. More total bulsh**.

Meanwhile, if you MANAGE to keep reading, you find out that this poor little thing was anything but. He obviously had a long history of violence and abuse--which is only hinted at here.

Since the 2006 divorce, he fought the mother constantly over custody--a common strategy among abusers.

A year and a half ago, Mom was successful in getting a TEMPORARY order of protection--and that in a state where they are notoriously hard to get. The mother reported that he had forced his way into her home and raped her. I sincerely doubt that was an isolated incident either. They never are.

But Daddy is coddled. Though he is told to stay away from the home, HE STILL KEEPS JOINT CUSTODY, and still gets the kids HALF THE TIME. So much for poor daddies being discriminated against.

At first, Mom is forced to facilitate this by doing the exchange at a public place-as if that was some guarantee of safety. It's not, as there are any number of women and children documented at Dastardly Dads who were killed under precisely these circumstances.

So who is the freaking victim here? Poor Daddy? Or the mother and kids who are forced into harm's way so a home invader and rapist can have his "rights"?

And that public exchange deal expired in October. So now Daddy is coming to the house! Oh and did we mention he was miffed about paying a fairly minimal amount to support FIVE CHILDREN?

So eventually he starts this blood bath, this slaughter involving his own kids, and his sister makes up some crazy bull about him "snapping" cause he moved a dozen miles or something, and the cops just can't act stupid enough about the motive.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

Dad is identified as CEDRIC PRATHER JR.

http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/state_news/father-who-shot-ex-wife-kids-had-fought-over-child/article_2b54ecea-b0cb-11e4-bfb1-d32c63cd4d91.html

Father who shot ex-wife, kids had fought over child custody

Posted: Tuesday, February 10, 2015 5:15 am Associated Press

DOUGLASVILLE (AP) — Cedric Prather Jr.’s three children were his whole life and when he lost his job as a truck driver recently, the pressure over supporting them may have led him to snap and kill four people, his sister said Monday.

The shooting rampage happened just after 3 p.m. Saturday. Prather, 33, parked about a quarter mile away and walked inside the suburban Atlanta home of his ex-wife, Latoya A. Andrews, police said.

Prather gunned down Andrews and her boyfriend, Joseph Terry Brown, and killed two of Prather’s children, including one who begged him not to pull the trigger, police said. He also shot two other children, leaving them critically injured. He then killed himself in the street.

“His children were his life,” Prather’s sister Jerdonna Sawyer told The Associated Press. “He wasn’t crazy at all. He just chose a terrible way to deal with his pressure and his stress.”

Prather left no note explaining his actions, Douglas County sheriff’s Capt. Bruce Ferguson said.

“I can’t tell you why he did it,” Ferguson said. “All I can do is to say he snapped or he had enough is what we’ve concluded in our investigation.”

Prather left the military when Andrews was pregnant with their first child to be with her and help support the family. He moved about a dozen miles down the road to Douglasville from Villa Rica to be closer to his children after he and Andrews divorced and she moved, even though it meant moving farther from his close-knit family, Sawyer said.

He felt enormous stress from trying to be a provider and a parent, and that was exacerbated recently when he lost his job as a truck driver because his driver’s license was suspended, Sawyer said.

#Court records show Prather and Andrews divorced in 2006, and Sawyer said the two had gone back and forth over their children since then. Andrews got a protective order against him a year and a half ago, court records show.

Prather killed his 7-year-old daughter, London, and 9-year-old son, Jeremiah. He also critically wounded Andrews’ 15-year-old daughter, Demeshia Owens, and Brown’s 7-year-old daughter, Jada Brown.

 Prather’s oldest child, a 13-year-old boy, was not home at the time.

Andrews had asked judge for a temporary protective order in August 2013. At one point, she wrote, Prather forced his way inside her locked home when she was there alone. He also pinned her down on the stairs and sexually assaulted her, she wrote in a court filing.

The court documents didn’t indicate whether criminal charges were ever sought, and there is no record of charges.

The judge ordered Prather to stay away from Andrews and her home. Meetings for him to pick up and drop off the children were to take place in the Douglasville Police Department parking lot, according to the order, which expired Oct. 9.

In December 2013, the state officials said in a court filing that Prather owed $31,800 in past-due child support. He and Andrews eventually reached a custody agreement in last May that allowed the children to spend about half their time with their father.

“We’re all hurting,” she said. “We’ve all had a great loss."

A few months later, the court issued a final order for him to pay $437 a month in child support and pay a past-due sum to be determined.

Police said the pair also fought about taxes but could not provide any more details about that.

Prather used a .45-caliber handgun to shoot all the victims and himself, and stopped at least once to reload. The sheriff’s office is working with federal authorities to see if he bought the gun legally.

Prather’s family is feeling deep grief and is also heartbroken for the families of Andrews and Brown, Sawyer said.