A young girl, aged 9, and her father were discovered deceased inside a car parked at a park in Georgia, prompting investigators to consider the possibility that the father may have committed the act.
Emily Grace Mayo, a 9-year-old, along with her father, James Lee Mayo, 37, were found lifeless in a vehicle at Brooklet City Park. This was after a concerned individual alerted authorities about a ‘child not responding and locked inside a vehicle,’ according to information from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Brooklet Police Department officers arrived at the park around 7 a.m. on Tuesday and discovered ‘the child deceased in the backseat, apparently from a gunshot wound.’
Police then found James, with the release saying that ‘a man was found dead in the front seat from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. A handgun was found on his lap.’
An investigation into the deaths is now underway and autopsies are being performed on the bodies of both father and daughter, according to the release.
Authorities would not say if the same gun or bullets were used to kill both father and daughter.
Preliminary evidence points to a murder-suicide, according to reports. No motive has been released.
‘I keep thinking this is not real. This is not real life. This does not happen to people we know, especially not my own family. Not my Emily,’ the 9-year-old girl’s aunt, Amber Healy wrote on Facebook.
Emily Grace Mayo (pictured), 9, and her father, James Lee Mayo, 37, were discovered dead by police inside a parked car at Brooklet City Park after a concerned citizen called to report an ‘unresponsive child locked in a vehicle’
According to the release, Brooklet Police Department officers responded to the scene around 7 am where they discovered ‘a child dead in the backseat with an apparent gunshot wound.’ Pictured: Nine-year-old Emily Grace Mayo
‘Emily was 9 and so full of life. To know her was to love her. She always had a smile , a hug, a laugh,’ the heartbreaking post continued.
‘If she met you, she loved you. It was instant. That all encompassing love.’
Healy has since organized a GoFundMe aimed at raising money for her burial and funeral services.
She also asked that people ‘keep us all in your prayers as we navigate through this nightmare we cannot wake up from,’ saying that Emily’s mom is devastated to have to bury her little girl.
‘No parent should have to make these decisions,’ Healy wrote.
The GoFundMe has raised over $30,000 as of Saturday evening.
The devastating father-daughter death comes just months after a California father fatally shot his adorable nine-year-old autistic son in front of the boy’s grandfather’s house in a horrifying act of violence.
Police then found James, with the release saying that ‘a man was found dead in the front seat from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. A handgun was found on his lap.’ Pictured: Brooklet City Park in Brooklet, Georgia
‘I keep thinking this is not real. This is not real life. This does not happen to people we know, especially not my own family. Not my Emily,’ the 9-year-old girl’s aunt, Amber Healy wrote on Facebook.
‘Emily was 9 and so full of life. To know her was to love her. She always had a smile , a hug, a laugh. She never met a stranger. If she met you, she loved you. It was instant. That all encompassing love,’ Healy’s heartbreaking Facebook post continued.
Nicholas Jones, 32, the boy’s biological father, was arrested on December 1 for murder and child abuse in the grisly death of his own child, Princeton Nicholas Jones, who had been named after his killer dad.
The boy was gunned down in the front yard of his grandparent’s house, located at S. Haskins Avenue and Alondra Boulevard in Compton, south of downtown Los Angeles, around 7:30 pm on November 30, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.
After the shooting, police were looking for a suspect. The boy’s family pleaded with the public in helping to find the shooter.
On Sunday, December 1, police identified Princeton’s father as the shooter, though a motive is still unknown and is under investigation.
The boy’s distraught aunt Shamica Frasier told Fox LA the she has ‘no idea’ why this happened and was visibly shocked.
Princeton Nicholas Jones, 9, was fatally shot by his father Nicholas Jones on Saturday night
‘I don’t know. I have no idea. I don’t know. He was a loving, warm kid. very respectful, just heartwarming kid,’ Frasier said.
Jones was later arrested and booked at the East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station.
Family members were left heartbroken calling the tragedy ‘a senseless act’ and want answers.
‘I don’t know. I have no idea. I don’t know. He was a loving, warm kid. very respectful, just heartwarming kid,’ Frasier said.
