“He threatened to kill me, my children, and himself,” ex-cop kills his 3-year-old child then shoots himself to death for no reason

Being a single parent means double the time, double the effort and double the commitment in rising your children and that surely is not an easy task. While some parents manage to handle the whole process easier compared to others, there are some people that are really struggling in their everyday life.

Today’s case is a complete representation of how stressful the parenthood might become in a combination with all the other everyday duties including work when a father, who was a former police officer, shot his little child to death then shoot himself for no apparent reason.

According to police reports, the fatal incident took place in Michigan when the suspect, identified as the 32-year-old Derek T., fatally shot his 3-year-old son Dylan and then turned the gun on himself in his home last week.

Both of the bodies were discovered by the authorities who came after they were called to carry out a welfare check. When they arrived at the scene, they entered the house after no one opened the door for them just to find the father and the son already dead.

Although no more details of the investigation were shared with the public, it looks like the father was suffering from mental health issues since he threatened his wife in the past that he will kill his family including himself.

According to his wife who was the mother of the 3-year-old child, six months before the shooting incident occurred, Derek threatened her that he is about to kill her, her family, the little boy and that he is about to commit suicide afterwards.

“He threatened to kill me, my children, and my family, and to commit suicide afterward,” his wife, Katie, wrote. “He rattled off the names of my family members and said he knew where they worked, he knew when they were home, and that he could get to them and hurt them.”

The couple were in a divorce process when the incident occurred and they had a legal battle over their son’s custody. Katie also has one more child from a previous relationship.

“He specifically mentioned that he would ‘save her [my daughter] for last’,” Katie wrote in the court documents.

The order of protection was granted on March 8 but terminated on March 22 when the estranged couple reached an agreement for a mutual restraining order.

Although no many details were immediately available, the court records indicate that Derek was a former police officer who was fired two years ago while he was working as a corrections officer. No information was given why he was fired.

Additionally, the police didn’t reveal the motive for the incident, but Derek’s wife said that he might had suffered mental health issues since his behavior completely changed in the last two-three years claiming he was usually coming home nervous because his job was stressful.

Katie launched a GoFundMe last week to cover her son’s funeral costs, saying she didn’t have life insurance for the little boy.