Text messaging could be used for a lot of things — from sharing life’s special moments to just saying hi — but for one desperate 43-year-old Connecticut woman, it was used as a last-ditched attempt to find help for her and her two little girls before it was too late.
Photo courtesy of attorneygeneral.gov.
Alice Morrin frantically text-messaged a friend begging him to call 911, the Hartford Courant reported online Tuesday, and to save her from her violent husband armed with a shotgun and a large knife.
“Help, call Vernon police,” she wrote in a text message at about 11:50 p.m. Sunday, the Courant reported. “Jim just dragged me in our room put loaded gun to my head. Hurry please he would hear me on the phone. I talked him down.”
The newspaper reported the friend, who was not identified, immediately called the Vernon police.
Morrin had filed for divorce from her husband, James Morrin, in April, the newspaper reported. The couple’s two daughters, 15-year-old Erica and 9-year-old Shannon, were also at home.
The friend received another text message after calling police, the Courant reported: “I am back in bedroom. Erica in basement. Shannon front bedroom. He has large knife too, hurry. No joke he is going to kill me.”
And then it got worse. At 11:55 p.m., she typed, “Hurry please, are they coming.” And then again, “Police are they coming. He showed its loaded. Held me down, hurry I need to get Shannon.”
Police told the Courant that Alice Morrin had called 911 at 11:54 p.m. reporting the dispute and the two children in the house. Then she screamed.
Her final text message arrived at 11:56 p.m., according to the newspaper.
“What should I do if he hears me,” she asked her friend. “I’m dead. God.”
And just as the first officer arrived on the scene, two shots were heard in quick succession, the Courant reported. And then one more moments later. And then it was silent.
In the end, Erica was found fleeing the home. James Morrin was found dead in an upstairs bedroom with the shotgun near him, and after a little more searching, Alice Morrin was also found dead… shot twice. After a more thorough search, police found Shannon in a third bedroom. She was, at the very least, physically OK, like her sister.
The newspaper reported that police are currently classifying the incident a murder-suicide.
RELATED TECH TALK ENTRY:
This begs the question: What about texting to 911? I assume it’s not possible, but can it be? Should it be? Especially in situations like this, where the person in danger needs to remain quiet.
Comment by Jacky Saulnier — July 1st, 2009 @ 1:03 pm
Thank you, Jacky, for the great question. I am working on securing an answer now. I will post a response as soon as one is available.
Comment by Jamie DeLoma — July 2nd, 2009 @ 2:56 pm