A Texas mother fatally shot her 4-year-old daughter after a judge placed the child in her father’s primary care, then died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Houston police and the girl’s family.
Relatives identified the girl as Vivian Savella and said a judge placed her in the primary care of her father, Aaron Savella, Tuesday.
Houston police described the deaths as an apparent murder-suicide. The 35-year-old mother died at a hospital Wednesday, September 30, a day after the shooting.
Gunshots inside the home
Officers responded at 5:46 p.m. Tuesday, September 29, to a home on Terra Reserve Place in west Houston. They found the girl with a gunshot wound on the third floor and her mother with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the police release.
Witnesses inside the home heard gunshots and forced their way into the child’s room, investigators said. Houston Fire Department paramedics pronounced the girl dead at the scene. Emergency responders took her mother to an area hospital.
The child’s stepfather and a babysitter were inside the home when the shooting occurred, Houston Police Lt. Larry Crowson said during a briefing covered by KPRC 2.
Father waited for custody transfer
The court awarded Aaron Savella primary custody and limited the mother’s time with Vivian to continuously supervised visits, according to court documents ABC13 reviewed.
The father’s attorney told ABC13 the order did not specify how the custody exchange should happen. The attorney said the court-appointed supervising agency had not yet learned of the case because the judge had just issued the ruling.
Relatives said Aaron followed court orders while trying to protect his daughter, in a statement released through attorneys and reproduced by KPRC 2.
“He trusted the courts. He followed every order. He waited for the process to work.”
The family said Vivian should have come home to her father Tuesday evening.
“She never did,” the statement said.
The family thanked those who offered support and asked for privacy while grieving.
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