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29 March 2024

Man kills wife, 2 kids in murder-suicide

Law enforcement investigate the scene of a shooting at a home in Suwanee. (AP)

Published
By AP

A Georgia man who was having relationship troubles with his wife killed her, two of her sons and himself Wednesday, less than a day after police had visited the home on a domestic violence call, authorities said.

Matthew Fields, 32, wasn't there when deputies arrived Tuesday night and there was no sign of any physical altercation, Maj. Rick Doyle of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office said. Those at the home were uncooperative and there was nothing more authorities could do, he said.

Fields returned to the home Wednesday morning and fatally shot his wife, Rebecca Manning, and her 8- and 9-year-old boys, Jared and Jacob Smith. He also critically wounded Manning's father, Jerry Manning, who lived with the family at the home in suburban Atlanta.

The home is a white, single-story, double-wide that contrasts with the nearby area, which includes some of metro Atlanta's most exclusive neighbourhoods and golf communities.

Sheriff Duane Piper said at a news conference earlier in the day that authorities weren't sure of the motive.

"We have absolutely no clue at this point what precipitated it," Piper said.

Before Fields killed himself, he called his mother acknowledging what he had done and said he was going to take his own life, according to 911 dispatcher documents distributed by the sheriff's office.

A man in another county had called 911 about 6 a.m. Wednesday and said his wife was on the phone with her son and her son said he had shot four people and was going to kill himself, according to the documents.

The caller said he and his wife were headed to the home and were 30 minutes away. The dispatcher said the caller advised of his wife: "She will be the only one that can talk to him."

The identifying information in the documents was redacted.

A woman who answered the phone Wednesday at an address traced to Fields' family in Dawsonville, Georgia - about 35 miles north of the shooting scene - identified herself as Fields' sister and said the family had no comment. She declined to give her name.

It appears the children were shot to death in their beds, authorities said. It's not clear where inside the home the others were shot.

Deborah Monley, operations manager for Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said officers are trained to ask specific questions "that would trigger a reaction if there was a problem." If they don't get that reaction and there are no signs of violence, officers' hands are tied, she said.

Frank Rotondo, executive director of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, said if there are no outward signs of violence in the home and "everyone there says nothing is going on, you just can't pick somebody and say, 'You look like the instigator,' and arrest the person."

The home is on Old Atlanta Road about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta. The road winds past golf course communities in a wooded area.

The house is a few dozen yards from the entrance to the Olde Atlanta Club, a golf course community along the Chattahoochee River.