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Columbia, TN (WSMV) — The Maury County sheriff confirmed in a news conference Tuesday that investigators believe a mother killed her four children before turning the gun on herself.
Maury County Sheriff Bucky Rowland identified the mother as 55-year-old Cynthia Collier.
The children, three girls and one boy, have been identified as 14-year-old Bo Li, 14-year-old Meigin Lin, 15-year-old Lia Lin and 17-year-old Kaileigh Lin. He said all four children were adopted.
Rowland said another sibling came home from work around 6 p.m. and found the victims at the home in the 1000 block of Carters Creek Pike.
According to the sheriff, all of the children and their mother died from gunshot wounds.
“The magnitude of this … it’s more than what we’re used to on a day-to-day basis. That’s why our first responders stepped up. They were very professional, and I couldn’t be more proud of Maury County,” Rowland said.
Rowland said there was a piece of evidence left behind at the scene that leads them to believe this was a murder-suicide.
Investigators are still working to determine the motive, but Rowland mentioned he believed Collier was suffering from mental illness.
“Of course, the first responders, we see gruesome scenes regularly, but this is not one that you see every day, so I’d ask our community to lift our first responders up in prayer as well,” Rowland said.
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