When Teachers Kill

Life is a funny thing. On average, I would suspect, most people don't initially plan on killing their own child. Though it happens too often to really even contemplate without completely and absolutely losing all remaining faith in humanity.

This story hits rather close to home for me, as I knew the people involved.

Tomball is a rather quiet settled German town with a population under thirteen thousand on the northwest side of Houston, Texas.

I moved there the summer before fifth grade. That school year I met a boy, Justin Carr. He was quiet, shy, really smart and super tall. He was a sweet kid, and while we weren't particularly close friends, we had classes together and were paired up for things throughout school.

His mother, who was a substitute teacher in the school district, always seemed to be a nice enough woman the few times that I had any interactions with her.

Everyone who knew her proclaimed her to be this "nice Christian woman" and...that just irks me. Especially in cases like this. A religion doesn't mean a damn thing to account for the type of person you are. But that's a whole different rant and I do not want to digress too much.

I remember one morning eating eggs for breakfast, and my dad just happened to have the news turned on as he was getting ready for work. Suddenly I heard voices on the television that I knew personally, which gained my attention quickly.

There was the face of a friend of mine being interviewed by the local media. He was talking about Ms. Carr and how it was unbelievable that something like this could happen.

Going to a Harris County sports good store, an Oshman's by the local mall, she bought a 9 mm pistol that Thursday morning, and committing the act around 5 p.m. In Texas in 1998, there was a new federal law that was passed that no longer required the five day waiting period for a pistol.

Upon entering she shot her daughter, 15, before turning the gun on Justin, who was 13 at the time. Aubrey was shot twice in the abdomen and died of her injuries. Justin, shot once in the abdomen, survived the shooting.

Ms. Carr told authorities that she had planned on taking her own life after taking those of her children, but after shooting the two of them, called her friend instead after changing her mind, asking for help.

If you ask me, she's lower than the dog shit on my shoes. If you're going to kill yourself, and you've made up your mind about it...fine. Darwinism at its best and finest. But leave the fucking kids out of the picture. Just because you think that your life is over, doesn't mean that you have to take theirs that is just beginning.

This friend called the Harris County police and Ms. Carr called 911. She was arrested and charged with one count of murder in the 1st and aggravated assault, and at the time of the crimes was being held on a 200,000 dollar bail.

Initially she blamed stress for pushing her over the edge enough to succeed in the killing of her daughter and attempting to kill her son. The police officers involved said that they could not pinpoint any one thing that might have caused her to go this route, but did state the her stress levels had been up consistently for the previous ten (or so) years.

Students that saw her the Monday before the shooting reported that she seemed fine, happy and smiling and teaching.

Some speculated that the $60 a day pay for a new substitute (this was in the year 2000) was too stressful for her and she was dissatisfied with the job's compensation and lack of benefits, though at the time she was working on becoming a full-time teacher for the district.

But the stress of working two jobs and life became too unbearable and she reached a breaking point on Thursday, Feb. 3 of 2000.

She was, at the time of the shooting, withdrawing from Prozac, which she had began and discontinued six different times over a five year period.

This case did not go to trial, but was settled with a plea bargain. Both the defense and the prosecution both believed that this was in the best interest of both the surviving family and friends, as well as Linda Carr.

The state of Texas sentenced her to thirty-five years for the murder of her daughter and twenty years for the assault on Justin, which is to be served congruently. She was up for parole in 2017. I could not find anywhere that stated whether or not she was granted it, however.

Justin moved in with his grandfather in another part of Houston where he made a full (physical) recovery.

I never saw him again after that, but I think about him from time to time and I hope that his life turned out well.

You never think that something like this is going to happen to someone you know or someone you care about. And then it does. It leaves you in a surreal reality where everything seems fictional.

Life is funny like that.

In the blink of an eye. Everything you knew, your whole world as you know it, will never be the same.