A Florida man angry at his wife shot his stepdaughter and killed her husband earlier this month before killing himself.
Panama City Police provided updated information about the incident, which took place on December 13.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, neighbors reported shots fired that night, and officers arrived to find Newell Mock, 67, on the front porch. He refused to engage with them and ultimately shot himself. Police entered the home and a found a man dead and a woman seriously wounded. Two young children who had been sleeping in the home were not physically harmed.
Panama City Police later said that Mock and gotten into an argument with his wife, 65-year-old Rhonda Mock, at their Gulf County home earlier that night. In the course of the argument, Mock picked up a handgun, prompting Rhonda Mock to flee the home.
No longer able to harass his wife, Mock drove to the home of his wife’s daughter, 40-year-old Jessica Johns, in Panama City. Mock broke into the house and shot Johns and her husband, 40-year-old Joshua Johns, several times.
Officers arrived less than three minutes later to find Mock on the front porch. He refused their attempt to talk and shot himself. Police said he did not threaten the officers, and officers did not fire their own weapons.
When officers entered the home, they found Joshua Johns dead and his wife critically wounded. Their 5- and 7-year-old children were still upstairs. A police chaplain remained with them until other family members could be brought to the home.
“His anger was really directed at his wife, but when he couldn’t expel that anger towards her, he decided to hurt her family, in order to hurt her,” Panama City Police Chief Mark Smith told WJHG.
