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Texas mom kills daughters: 5 new developments in the case

By Cox Media Group National Content Desk
By Cox Media Group National Content Desk
Texas mom and gun advocate Christy Sheats, 42, was killed by police outside her Fort Bend County home Friday after authorities say she fatally shot her two daughters – Taylor, 22, and Madison, 17 – on her husband's birthday.
Here are five new developments in the case:

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1. Sheats called a "family meeting" before the shooting, authorities said. According to the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office, Sheats asked her daughters and husband, 45-year-old Jason Sheats, to meet in their living room before she opened fire, NBC News reports. "During that meeting, Christy Sheats held up a gun and shot both girls," the sheriff's office said in a statement.

2. Sheats reportedly reloaded her gun during the shooting. The sheriff's office said Sheats used a five-shot, .38-caliber handgun to kill the girls. As the daughters and father fled from the home, Madison collapsed, dead, KPRC reports. Meanwhile, Sheats chased Taylor into the street, shot her, then went back into the home, reloaded the gun and shot Taylor again, authorities said. Jason Sheats was not hurt.

3. A family friend called Sheats "toxic." According to KTRK, Madison Davey, who is close to the family, described Sheats as "toxic for the family" and "mentally unstable." "I always knew something would happen, but I never thought she would do this," Davey told KTRK. The news came after sheriff's office spokeswoman Caitilin Espinosa told People that Sheats had a history of mental illness. The sheriff's office also said it had been called to the home 14 times since 2012, The Associated Press reports.

4. Jason Sheats said his wife shot the girls to make him suffer, Davey told KTRK. The couple, who had recently gotten back together after a separation, had been arguing, Davey said. During Friday's altercation, he told his wife, "'Make it easy on all of us, just shoot yourself,' and she said, 'No, that's not what this is about; this is about punishing you,'" Davey said.

>> Click here to watch a news report from KTRK

5. Taylor Sheats was supposed to get married Monday. According to a Facebook post by relative Ann Sheats Wooten of Alabama, Taylor and her fiance had planned a small ceremony and wanted to have a larger wedding after graduating from college, KRPC reports. 

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