A community in Tennessee is reeling after a nurse practitioner shot her two young sons and her elderly grandmother before turning the gun on herself in a devastating murder-suicide.
A Tragic Discovery in Waverly
Deputies from the Humphreys County Sheriff's Office made the grim discovery on January 2 after conducting a welfare check at a home in Waverly. They found four bodies, all with fatal gunshot wounds.
The victims were identified as four-year-old Arius Thompson, his 13-year-old brother Isaiah Johnson, and their 88-year-old great-grandmother, Evelyn Johnson. The boys' mother, 32-year-old Heather Thompson, a nurse practitioner, is believed to be responsible for the killings before dying by suicide.
A Community in Mourning
Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis gave an emotional statement, revealing he knew the family personally. He connected the tragedy to a recent explosion in the county that claimed 16 lives, stating, 'Here again, small town America. Here again, I know the families.'
He vowed, 'We're going to do right by them. We're going to respect them.' The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is assisting with the case. Authorities have found no evidence suggesting anyone else was involved and have not yet established a motive.
Heather Thompson worked at Ascension Saint Thomas Three Rivers Hospital in Waverly after earning a master's degree from Walden University.
A Father's Heartbreak
The children's father, Jeremiah 'Biah' Thompson, who was estranged from Heather, expressed his profound grief online. 'I miss my sons already. Daddy still loves you. Sorry, I was at work,' he wrote.
He described the moment he learned of the tragedy: 'As a father, it hurt and shattered my soul to hear my sons Arius (Ari), and Isaiah have been taken from me... They were just babies. Every second of today, I wish I could just wake up.'
He has set up a GoFundMe to help with funeral costs and to bring his sons to New Mexico, where he lives. The fundraiser had raised nearly $11,000 towards its $16,000 goal. He posted that he and his sister were travelling to Tennessee to bring his boys home.
The community has rallied online with messages of support for the grieving father, offering prayers and condolences for the unimaginable loss.
This horrific incident comes just months after Humphreys County was rocked by a major industrial explosion at the Accurate Energetic Systems plant on October 10, 2025, which killed 16 people. The manufacturing site is approximately 18 miles from where this latest tragedy occurred.
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