US mum shoots, kills kids for 'talking back': Police

In this Friday, Jan 28, 2011 photo, Julie Powers Schenecker is led away from the Tampa Police Department in Tampa, Florida. -- PHOTO: AP


TAMPA (Florida) - THE army officer's wife who authorities say killed her teenage daughter and son because she was fed up with them talking back and being mouthy did not appear in court Saturday because she's being treated at a hospital for an unknown condition.

Authorities say Julie Powers Schenecker was taken to Tampa General Hospital early Saturday, shortly after midnight, to be treated for a medical condition that existed before she was taken to jail. Hillsborough Sheriff's deputies - who oversee jail inmates - said they could not reveal Schenecker's medical condition, citing health care privacy laws.

An arrest affidavit said Schenecker shot her son twice in the head in the family car 'for talking back' as she drove him to soccer practice. The report said Schenecker then drove to their upscale home and shot her daughter in the face inside the home.

Schenecker's mother called police on Friday morning, and told them she was concerned after her daughter had sent an e-mail saying she was depressed. Officers found Schenecker drenched in blood on her back porch - and once they saw the teens, the scene was so troubling that a stress team was called to counsel the responding officers, a police spokesman said.

Calyx, the girl, was 16 and a cross country running star at her high school. The 13-year-old son, Beau, was in eighth grade.

Investigators believe the teens 'never saw it coming,' said police spokesman Laura McElroy. Both were killed with a .38-calibre pistol. The arrest affidavit said the weapon was purchased five days earlier. -- AP

Source: The Straits Times