DALTON, Ga. – What started as a 4-year-old girl’s birthday celebration Thursday ended with little children cowering in an attic for safety as family members died below in a hail of gunfire.
The girl’s mother, Mindy Bullard, 35, was shot twice while begging for mercy and fleeing across the family’s roof. On the ground, her ankles broken, she dragged herself toward a neighbor’s yard.
She survived, and her injuries are not life-threatening, authorities said, but three men died in the exchange of gunfire, including the alleged perpetrator, David Hartline, a 41-year-old convicted child molester from Summerville, Ga., who deputies believe was drunk and full of jealousy.
Bullard’s father, Edward H. Manz III, 61, of Chattanooga, and her ex-husband, Kenneth Simonson, 41, of Cleveland, Tenn., also were killed but not before Manz fired at least two deadly rounds at Hartline.
Bullard had been trying to end a tumultuous six-month relationship with Hartline when she told him not to attend the family birthday party Thursday afternoon.