A Texas mother killed her nine-year-old daughter then herself in a shocking murder-suicide during an intense nine-hour standoff with polic...
A Texas mother killed her nine-year-old daughter then herself in a shocking murder-suicide during an intense nine-hour standoff with police.
On Monday, police responded to a domestic violence call at the 500 block of Highcrest Drive in Red Bird, Dallas around 12.30am where they found a man who said he had been in an argument with his wife.
The man said he escaped the home when his wife, 34-year-old Alexica Stevenson-Gates, started shooting and 'chased him out of the house', barricading herself inside with her nine-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son, Dallas police say.
SWAT officers were able to negotiate for her to release the boy from the home.
Mother Alexica Stevenson-Gates, 34, (left in 2014 mugshot) killed her daughter Miloni Metoyer, nine, (right) in a tragic murder-suicide on Monday during a standoff with police in Dallas, Texas
Cops responded to a domestic violence call in Red Bird around 12.30am. Alexica's husband said she chased him out of the house with a gun and barricaded herself inside with her 12-year-old son and daughter, but the boy was able to escape. Scene of shooting above
The Red Bird home where the murder-suicide took place pictured above
Armed SWAT officers pictured at the scene where they engaged in a standoff with Stevenson-Gates from midnight to around 9am when she was found dead
Officers made several failed attempts to persuade Stevenson-Gates from exiting the home.
SWAT forced entry at 6.30am, prompting the mother to barricade in a closet with the girl. She opened fire and hit two SWAT officers, but officers did not shoot back.
Officers entered again around 9am and found the woman and girl – Miloni Metoyer – dead in the closet in an apparent murder-suicide, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Miloni’s father Noland Metoyer, who is not the same man as Stevenson-Gates’ husband, has been left heartbroken by the death of his daughter.
'I just can’t believe it. I don’t even want to think about the last thing Miloni was thinking,' he said to the paper.
He paid tribute to his young daughter in a touching Facebook post saying: 'R.I.P. to my beautiful daughter Miloni Metoyer...12/06/10 to 5/18/20.... Thank you for the best years of my life.'
Miloni’s father Noland Metoyer, who is not the same man as Stevenson-Gates’ husband, has been left heartbroken by the death of his daughter saying: 'I just can’t believe it. I don’t even want to think about the last thing Miloni was thinking'
He paid tribute to his young daughter in a touching Facebook post saying: 'R.I.P. to my beautiful daughter Miloni Metoyer...12/06/10 to 5/18/20.... Thank you for the best years of my life'
Child Protective Services said there had been no history of child abuse allegations involving the two children in the home. Miloni Metoyer pictured above
A family members shared this tribute to Miloni and Stevenson-Gates saying 'Tears won't stop'
Child Protective Services said there had been no history of child abuse allegations involving the two children in the home.
Now Child Protective Investigations is working to review the girl’s death, and the boy will be placed in the custody of a family member.
Noland Metoyer said that Stevenson-Gates had longstanding issues with family violence.
In 2005, she faced an assault charge and was required to attend anger management classes, according to court documents.
Then in 2014 she was charged with assault causing injury to a family member after a fight with her boyfriend of two years ended with bloody scratches on his face and neck, according to an affidavit.
Metoyer, who lives in Louisiana, says he and Stevenson-Gates separated shortly after Miloni was born in 2010 but he was in contact with her for his daughter's sake.
Cops descended upon the 500 block of Highcrest Drive in Red Bird following a domestic violence call by Stevenson-Gates' husband
He last saw Miloni about four months ago, before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and talked to her every two to three days via video chat.
'Miloni was always happy to see me, and she always smiled. Some days I’d talk to her for a little while and she’d be playing with her toys, and I’d just let her play with her toys,' he said.
Metoyer credited Stevenson-Gates as a mother who raised her kids to be educated and well-mannered.
'That was one thing she did. She educated them,' he said.
'We are fighting a pandemic. We are trying to stay alive, but then we kill each other. It’s absurd…And I want the community to be more outraged about that,' Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall said on the case.