A Tennessee grandmother who fought for custody of her deceased daughter's child but lost to the girl's father was left in grief and anger after the man murdered her granddaughter.
Monica Dunning sees the gunshot death of her 12-year-old granddaughter Angel Ahearn as devastating evidence that the U.S. family court system is broken, Tennessee news station WBIR reported.
Angel's mother died in a car accident in Monroe County, Tennessee, in 2016. Dunning then campaigned to be named her granddaughter's guardian. But the girl spent time in several foster homes before her father, Leonard Ahearn, was granted custody of her.
According to Dunning, her daughter was divorced from Ahearn at the time of her death and there had been allegations of abuse that led to a court order barring him from seeing Angel.
The decision to award Ahearn custody despite these allegations had a tragic ending in the family's home in Barrow County, Georgia, more than a three-hour drive from Monroe County, Tennessee.
On Oct. 17, authorities say, Ahearn was arguing with a 34-year-old woman when he grabbed a gun and shot her, his daughter and himself. When emergency responders arrived, they found Angel dead and the two adults critically injured. Ahearn died after he and the woman were taken to the hospital.
“She saw her father walk up to her, put a gun to her head and shoot her,” Dunning said in an interview with WBIR this week. “It's just horrific. No 12-year-old, especially this 12-year-old, should have to go through that.”
“It was impossible to be in a room with her for two seconds without just absolutely loving her. She was outgoing, she was expressive, she was happy.”
Dunning said she was particularly frustrated because she had invested time and money in a process that was supposed to allow her to care for Angel in a home where Angel would have been safe. But she said it seemed as though the officials handling her case were ” [Angel] with no one” except her maternal grandmother.
Tennessee Child Services told WBIR that courts make the final decision on where a child is placed. WBIR reported that the judge who decided Angel's case, Benjy Thomas, declined to comment.
Tennessee House Representative Gloria Johnson said Angel's death was just one of the problems plaguing the understaffed and underpaid Children and Youth Services Agency and the courts with which it works.
Across the U.S., public child care systems are facing similar problems. Johnson told WBIR she is calling on Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to adequately fund public child care services before more children are harmed.
“It's just morally wrong,” Johnson told WBIR. “I think it's time to find the money to fix the situation now.”
