LAWTEY, Fla. – Just after 2 a.m. Tuesday, Bradford County’s 911 dispatch got a call that would leave the tight-knit community reeling.
A young voice can be heard on the call before a sharp scream.
A man and woman are heard yelling in the background.
Then the line goes dead.
The dispatcher knows her procedures. She calls back right away.
When she gets the girl back on the line, the dispatcher asks if everything is OK.
“No! Come now,” a young voice replies. “Come now. Just come.” (Press play above to hear the call)
Then the line goes dead again. The dispatcher calls again and gets voicemail and when she finally gets through, she’s able to get the address from the little girl.
The 11-year-old had just witnessed an argument between her grandma and grandpa that escalated into violence when her two aunts got involved, according to investigators.
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When deputies got to the family’s mobile home on Northeast 17th Avenue, west of U.S. 301 just outside the Lawtey city limits, they found the girl’s “grandpa,” 46-year-old Johnnie Bernard Brown, wandering in the front yard with several cuts on his body.
A deputy gave Brown first aid and called for rescue and backup.
Then the 11-year-old came out of the mobile home. She knew a lieutenant who showed up at the scene and told him her grandmother and two aunts were inside and “something was wrong with them.”
The lieutenant found the three women in one of the bedrooms. They had all been fatally shot.
“This morning, evil struck our county,” Bradford County Sheriff Gordon Smith told News4JAX. “The whole situation is just tragic.”
Brown has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder for killing his wife Quinqune “Cat” Robinson, 49, and her two adult daughters -- Denesha Sims, 27, and Winshay Roddey, 25 -- Smith said. Brown is also facing an attempted murder charge for the girl, who was hit by bullet shrapnel.
Several metallic fragments were removed from her shoulder at the hospital before she was released.
Smith, who knows the family, said the girl was at the Sheriff’s Office Tuesday afternoon as social workers tried to find a family member to take custody of her.
“She’s a strong little young lady,” Smith said. “She’s so resilient but at the end of the day what long-term effects does this have on this child?”
The sheriff said the traumatic experience and disruption to her life are sure to take a toll.
“I think she’s very resilient and she’s got plenty of people around her to love her through this process,” Smith said.
WATCH: Sheriff gives update on 11-year-old after triple murder:
What happened
According to his arrest report, Brown told investigators he and Robinson were arguing and Roddey and Sims got involved and “came at him with knives.” He said he grabbed his gun and started shooting at the three women and when they ran away he “went mad” and kept shooting.
Investigators found a kitchen knife in Sims’ hand, saying she was holding it with her arms crossed in a defensive manner as she hid behind a chair in the bedroom. Another knife was found at Robinson’s feet.
The arrest report said investigators noticed bullet holes in the wall and door that indicated the bedroom door was closed when the shots were fired. The door was also locked.
The 11-year-old told deputies that “grandpa was hurting grandma and her two aunts and grandpa said ‘they should have stayed out of it.’”
After Brown was released from the hospital in Gainesville, he was charged in Alachua County with three counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. He will be returned to Bradford County.
“These are things we watch on TV. We come to our sanctuary here in Bradford County... so this is shocking. It has shocked a great, loving hard-working community,” Smith said.
He said while domestic violence incidents happen regularly, it’s been years since the community has had a homicide, let alone a triple murder.
“It’s like an earthquake moving throughout our community because it is so shocking,” Smith said. “Not just one person, but three. Their lives were taken from them. And to us, it’s our job to make sure that individual is held accountable.”