![]() There's blood on the plant and blood on the floor. Did you, did you go in your mommy and daddy's room?ĬHILD: Not all over. How old are you?ĬHILD: I'm 5 years old and I have a dog in a house. This is the transcript of the Monday morning 911 call 5-year-old Tia Hernlen made after she found her mother dead or dying and father badly hurt in the bedroom of their New Smyrna Beach home:ĬHILD: I think there is a bullet on the floor.ĬHILD: And there is blood, coming out of my dad's mouth and he fell off the bed.ĬHILD: She is, I don't know, I think they're dead. Sheriff Johnson said Tia Hernlen is with family TRANSCRIPT "This is a very quiet neighborhood," Lake Drive resident Pete Hornby said. Most of the Hernlens' neighbors, many of whom did not wish to be identified, were also shocked. "I had no idea until a cop came out and told my daughter that he (Johnson) had died."Ĭoni McKellar said David Johnson was neighborly, and she never noticed any problems at the house. "I wondered what in the world was going on," he said. Neighbors along both quiet streets, which lie only a few miles apart, were taken aback by the triple shooting.Īgnus McKellar, who was staying with his daughter in the house across from Johnson's, said he didn't know what to think when officers with guns drawn descended on Swan Avenue shortly after 10 a.m. The trial on the stalking charge was set for May 2. He was scheduled for trial May 9, according to court records. Johnson had been arrested in November on charges of cultivation of marijuana, possession of steroids and possession of drug paraphernalia. Julie Hernlen told deputies Johnson had driven by the house several times and harassed them because he thought she and her husband had informed on him to law enforcement about drug activity at the Swan Avenue residence, Davidson said. The unemployed New Smyrna Beach resident was accused in court documents of stalking the couple and threatening their family in December and January. When they entered his home, they found him dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said.Īeneas Hernlen was airlifted to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, where he remained in critical condition Monday night.ĭavid Johnson was no stranger to the Hernlen family, deputies said. Investigators have not disclosed what linked the double shooting to Johnson. Several hours after finding the couple, deputies went to Johnson's Swan Avenue home. There, he shot them with an undisclosed type of gun then fled back to his home. Investigators believe Johnson forced his way into the back of the Hernlens' small, single-story yellow house in the 100 block of Ellison Avenue and walked into the couple's bedroom. "And the dispatcher did a wonderful job." "The little girl did a magnificent job," he said. Sheriff Ben Johnson described the recorded conversation as "chilling" during a news conference at the scene Monday afternoon. The youngster told Choufani she never saw her parents' assailant.Ĭhoufani used her voice to keep the youngster calm and on the line until a deputy arrived about four minutes later. "I said 'mommy and daddy' and they didn't even answer. "Where is your mommy?" Choufani asked in a soothing voice. "There is blood coming out of my dad's mouth and he fell off the bed." "I think there is a bullet on the floor," the youngster told sheriff's 911 dispatcher Donna Choufani. While her name is omitted from the recordings of the 911 tape released Monday afternoon, deputies at the scene confirmed her name. Investigators said Monday the Hernlens had given them no information on Johnson.īut it was a little girl's taped 911 call at 2:58 a.m., after being awakened by the gunshots, that told the personal story of the tragedy. The couple had filed complaints against Johnson, accusing him of stalking them because he believed they had turned him in to law enforcement for drug activity, public records show. ![]() Johnson then returned to his Swan Avenue residence and killed himself, deputies said. and shot the couple as their daughter slept in the next room. Volusia County sheriff's investigators believe the couple were the victims of David Edward Johnson, 33, whom they had accused of stalking them because he believed they had turned him in for drug activity.ĭeputies believe he broke into the Hernlen home, which is just outside city limits, shortly before 3 a.m. ![]() Her 29-year-old husband, Aeneas, was critically wounded. Thirty-one year old Julie Hernlen was dead in the bedroom of the family's Ellison Avenue home. With those words, 5-year-old Tia Hernlen described finding the bleeding bodies of her mother and father to a Sheriff's Office dispatcher early Monday morning. NEW SMYRNA BEACH - "I think they're dead." I nearly cried listening to the actual 911 call. ![]()
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