Florida mom murdered son and daughter as teens slept: autopsy

[SummerSnow]

Jennifer Berman shot Alexander, 16, and Jacqueline, 15, in the backs of their heads before committing suicide with a rifle, the report says. The distraught mother's ex-husband Richard Berman found the bodies.

Jennifer Berman, 48, had told her ex-husband in an email she had done the best thing for the family, and she also sent a text to a cousin, warning she planned to hurt 15-year-old Jacqueline and 16-year-old Alexander.Richard Berman, 51, raced to the fractured family’s home in the exclusive West Palm Beach neighborhood, but he was too late.

Jennifer and Richard Berman had divorced in December 2013 and the mother-of-two was hurting for money after years living the lush life, the Palm Beach Post reported.She was staying in a house once owned by her recently deceased mother, but the home had been in foreclosure since 2010, and she and the kids were reportedly going to have to move out in February.Jennifer Berman claimed in court documents she’d been forced to hock her father’s watch to pay the bills. She told neighbors she was working 12-hour overnight shifts as a nurse in a failing struggle to pay the bills.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/florida-mom-murdered-son-daughter-teens-slept-autopsy-article-1.1864996


damn.

[JI7]

1. when i read this story and see they have killed other members i have a hard time feeling bad

for the person who did the shooting.

[shenmue]

2. :(

[blkmusclmachine]

3. Another blood soaked day in the bad ol US of A

[Baitball Blogger]

4. Just a note...

If I knew that someone was going to harm someone the first thing I would have done was call 911. It doesn't sound like he did that according to this article.

I can't help feeling there was a desire to keep this a private family matter, which turned out to be a bad choice.

[HooptieWagon]

5. Call 911 and the cops may have shot them anyway.

Families calling 911 to deal with another family member are caught between a rock and a hard place these days, as the police default seems to be a military response.

[SummerSnow]

6. yep, shoot first ask questions later. Sad

[Baitball Blogger]

7. But the sirens might have awaken one of the kids.

The results couldn't have turned out worse than they did.

[HooptieWagon]

10. Don't count on that.

Cops could have fired tear gas into the house, setting it on fire and burning everyone alive. Or they could have entered the wrong house and shot people not involved. Too much militarism and stupidity by cops these days to rely on big fuck-ups not being possible. Sadly.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

17. And they also could have found the right house, and talked this person down

Or maybe the gun would have been turned on them by a clearly homicidal nut and they would have had to fire to save themselves, which I'm sure you couldn't give a shit less about. Hell, 30 grand a year in tax dollars should be worth taking a few bullets just to make sure the bad guy's serious, right?

Either way, keep tilting at those windmills.

[newcriminal]

33. And the votes are in:

AUTOMATED MESSAGE: Results of your Jury Service
Mail Message
On Mon Jul 14, 2014, 04:17 PM an alert was sent on the following post:

Don't count on that.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5236433

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

Urging people not to call 911 to report murderers because of extremely likely hypotheticals is unethical and it is over the top.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Mon Jul 14, 2014, 04:20 PM, and the Jury voted 1-6 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Cops suck
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Look at post 27 if you want proof this isn't hyperbole.
Juror #6 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Err, what's 'over the top' is abusing the alert system to push your point of view.

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

[HooptieWagon]

34. Holy crap! That was alerted?

I didn't urge people not to call 911... merely pointed out that instances of cops shooting first might be a reason people are hesitant. Sure was a thin-skinned alerter... or a closet authoritarian.

[newcriminal]

37. I was surprised also.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

16. Bullshit

Hundreds of domestic conflicts are resolved by police everyday peacefully, but if one posted an article for each one (of course, there aren't really any of those articles because dog bites man doesn't sell) we'd get the "Why are you posting about them doing their job like they're supposed to?".

But please proceed with trashing the cops....even though they had nothing to do with these two poor kids being dead.

[Skittles]

18. thank you

Last edited Mon Jul 14, 2014, 12:08 AM - Edit history (1)

I am sick of DUers trashing law enforcement en masse

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

19. There are times when it's warrented....

....and then there are cases like this where it might as well be like a woo thread where someone posts about a serious health problem and someone else wanders in and advocates not going to the doctor because occasionally they misdiagnoses and kill someone.

[Skittles]

21. exactly

there's context and then there's just nonsense

[CBGLuthier]

27. 30 years ago my wife's cousin's husband was holding HIMSELF hostage

He fell asleep and the cops burst in and blew him the hell away claiming he was reaching for a gun.

So nothing new about execution by cop.

[Michigander_Life]

32. Was he?

[Arkansas Granny]

9. The article states that he was on the phone with 911

when he discovered his don't body. It's doesn't say when he placed the call.

[Jenoch]

11. According to the article he was on the phone with the dispatcher.

Instead of assuming he didn't call 911, I am assuming he called 911 and was on the phone with the dispatcher as he was driving to, arriving at, and inside the house when he discovered the bodies.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. If so, I don't think the police gets points for response time if he beat them to the scene of the

crime.

[Jenoch]

14. You unwittingly posted a reason why it is not always a good idea

to rely on law enforcement for protection. This situation turned out to be bad for those children and the father and any other loved ones. There are instances where having a gun in the home protects the family in that home from bad situations when the police cannot get there in time. I'm not a CCW holder, but I can understand why some have permits to carry.

[Baitball Blogger]

15. You really have to go through some serious contortions to reach your conclusions.

But, if you want me to play that game, it would have been better if the mother didn't own a gun. Much harder to go through with a murder plan if it takes more effort than pulling a trigger.

[Jenoch]

20. Reading comprehension fail on your part.

You seem to have missed my second sentence. You also do not seem to understand what it is like for people who live 30 minutes or an hour or more from law enforcement response even at the quickest response time.

[Baitball Blogger]

22. There was no failure in reading comprehension. People just say that as a

deflection move. Not helpful in this case. If you wanted to come out in support of gun ownership because the police department is not always conveniently close by, then this case may not have been the one to try to wiggle in your POV. This occurred in a West Palm Beach neighborhood. Those areas are very populated and the infra-structure would be established. So police departments and fire stations would be conveniently close by.

[Jenoch]

23. I said this case was unforetunate.

You brought up police response time. I did not.

[Baitball Blogger]

24. And you apparently tried to twist a fact of the case to your advantage...

...and came up short.

[Jenoch]

25. You pointed out the fact

and I applied it. But not to this case. This case already happened. I was suggesting, as you pointed out, that LEO cannot be depended upon for protection from danger.

[Baitball Blogger]

35. "But not to this case."

Maybe you should have clarified that point in the beginning. In rural areas where there are no police departments in close proximity, maybe it makes sense to own a gun.

In this case, the point is irrelevant. The victims had already been killed by a gun. Swift and without remedy.

[Jenoch]

38. If you had simply read post #14, this exchange would have been shorter.

"This situation turned out to be bad for those children and the father and any other loved ones. There are instances where having a gun in the home protects the family in that home from bad situations when the police cannot get there in time."

[Baitball Blogger]

39. Major, major backpedaling there, son.

Read your post 14 in its entirety. You really were trying to wiggle in a pro-gun POV in a case where the facts did not support your conclusion.

[HockeyMom]

26. Children/teenagers should have guns

to protect themselves from their parents? People need to arm themselves against their own family members who they live with? Don't wait for law enforcement to come to your rescue. Shoot Mommy Dearest before she shoots you?

[Jenoch]

29. That's your solution, not mine.

I never suggested such a thing for this case..

[Baitball Blogger]

36. I know, right?

[CBGLuthier]

28. Ignoring the fact that the mother's easy access to a gun caused this.

I guess you think the teenagers should have kept guns under their pillows and shot their mother first. That is one fucked up solution.

[Jenoch]

30. That's your solution, not mine.

I never suvgested such a thing for this case.

[valerief]

8. If only there were more guns. Gungeoneer logic. nt

[ChazII]

12. Twenty or so years ago the same situation

occurred with one of my students. Parents were divorcing and mom did not want to share custody. She shot K. in the back the head and then committed suicide. If there was a blessing it is the K died instantly.

My students were angry that the family had matching coffins for the mother and daughter.

[conservaphobe]

31. Funny how the headline says murdered and not "SHOT TO DEATH"

The extremists have been criticizing some media outlets for saying shot, shooter, shot and killed, etc, because they felt it reflected poorly on their precious.

I guess they're winning on another front.