LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) - Family members say an abusive relationship has come back to haunt them forever. Family members talk to WDRB about how they believe an abusive relationship led to a mother and her two young sons being gunned down inside their own home.
WDRB uncovered documents that tell the story of an abusive relationship that family members say they have known about for years.
"She did the best she could to protect herself, protect her boys," said Omega Goldsmith, sister and aunt to three victims.
It was supposed to be a fresh beginning. "New house, new job, you know, finishing her career," said Goldsmith, of her sister, "wanting to go back to school, her boys were excited to go to school."
Moving into a new home in Pleasure Ridge Park, Omega Goldsmith says her sister, Sade Goldsmith, still could not escape violence.
Her sister and two nephews, John and Jon'tee Devine, were shot in their home in Pleasure Ridge Park.
They had only lived there two weeks, when police found them dead inside Sunday morning, and a man wounded. "(Police responded) on a panic alarm. Upon the arrival, they located a door that had been broken into," said Lt. Barry Wilkerson, LMPD Homicide.
Police will not release much information about that man found wounded inside. They say he and Sade had a relationship with a history of violence, and two children together.
WDRB uncovered court papers that confirm the violence. In 2004, Sade told police the man hit her in the head so hard her "ears were ringing." One year later it happened again. The police report says he hit her with closed fists, causing "redness" and "swelling" on her head.
Marta Miranda, President of the Center for Women and Families, says it's common to find a long history of domestic violence, as in this case, that end in tragedy. Miranda says, "Domestic violence is about power and control and the more control that you lose, the more outrageous you become to get control and the ultimate form of control is homicide and suicide."
Despite problems, family members say the man was a good father. Goldsmith says, "He loved his boys, he did love his boys, and his boys they loved him."
But she says she just cannot comprehend the unthinkable. "For me to believe that he would do that to them," Goldsmith stopped, "I have no words, I don't know."
Police will not identify the man involved, and they will not call it a triple-murder and attempted suicide, saying they must explore every avenue. While Goldsmith has to now think about burying her sister and two nephews, she wants others to think about their lives: "It should make parents out there hug their children every night and women going through anything domestic to go get help somewhere."
We have also discovered an emergency protective order a different woman took out against the man. It says he is not suppose to carry a gun for at least the next two years.
No charges have been filed.
The man is in stable condition.
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