Deputies release new info in Douglas County murder-suicide

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. — Deputies released new details Monday in a murder-suicide that left five people dead and another two injured in a quiet Douglasville neighborhood.

Authorities say Cedric Prather shot and killed his ex-wife, Latoya Andrews, her current boyfriend and then fatally shot several of his own children. He then turned the gun on himself.

The shooting happened Saturday afternoon at a home on Willow Tree Circle and outside on the street. Neighbors said they are still trying to make sense of the brutal shooting.

“The girl said, 'Daddy no,' or, 'Daddy don't' and then he shot her,” said neighbor Teresa Carter.

Neighbors say they saw the boyfriend, Joseph Brown, still moving after he was shot. They say he was trying to help Andrews.

“He kicked the gun away from the shooter's hand because he was still kind of moving, kicked it away from him and then went to help her,” Carter told Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes.

Deputies said the domestic incident may have stemmed from taxes and child support. The couple were married for 11 years and had been divorced for five years.

A neighbor told Fernandes that Andrews had recently put Prather on child support without notifying him and Prather’s license was suspended for not paying. The neighbor said Prather then lost his job because he didn’t have a valid license.

The neighbor said Prather was not an angry or violent person until this incident.

Police say days before the incident Prather and Andrews were arguing about who was claiming the kids on their tax returns.

“All I can do is say that he snapped,” said Cpt. Brian Ferguson.

Police say Prather was on the phone with a friend when he walked into the home with a loaded .45 caliber handgun.

“He actually told the friend and I quote, “You don’t wanna hear this,’” said Ferguson.

Police say he parked his car a few houses down from the home. Neighbors say he was pacing before he started shooting.

He shot Brown first, and then shot Andrews in the master bedroom.

Police say the children ran from the home when they heard the shots, but Prather convinced them to come back. Police say that’s when he reloaded his gun and aimed it at his own children as they stood in the middle of the street. That’s where he also shot himself, according to police.

Two of the children, London, 7, and her brother Jeremiah, 9, were killed. Their big sister Misha, 15, remains in critical condition at a nearby hospital. Another child, 8, was also shot.

Police say a 13-year-old son was the only one who was not home at the time of the shooting

“I’ll be honest with you, picking up that 7-year-old and putting her in that body bag is… I haven't stopped thinking about it lets put it that way,” said Ferguson.

Prather has no criminal history in Douglas County, and there's no domestic history between the divorced couple.

“These innocent little children and innocent family trying to live a new family life and to get disturbed like this is very sad,” neighbor Andrews Ansah said.

WSBTV