BARRE, Vt. -- A woman who lost custody of her 9-year-old daughter killed three relatives in a Vermont home and then headed to a nearby state office to gun down the social worker involved in the custody case, authorities said.
Police said 40-year-old Jody Herring shot social worker Lara Sobel, 48, twice on Friday, killing her outside an office of the state Department for Children and Families in Barre as Sobel was leaving work. Herring was tackled outside the building and arrested on a first-degree homicide charge.
The next morning, a 911 call brought officers to a Berlin home, where they found three relatives of Herring dead. Police said at least two of the women appeared to have been shot.
The Burlington Free Press reported that Tiffany Herring, 23, who identified herself as the daughter of one of the victims, said her mother had received a threatening phone call from Jody Herring on Friday morning.
"My mother got a call in the morning, maybe 7:30 or 8 o'clock, saying it was Jody Herring saying, 'You guys need to stop calling DCF unless you guys are going to have it coming to you,'" Tiffany Herring told the newspaper.
She said she discovered the women's bodies.
"Both doors were wide open, and I walked into the living room, and that's where I saw my mom dead," she said.
Gov. Peter Shumlin tentatively identified the victims as Regina Herring and Rhonda Herring, the suspect's cousins; and Julianne Falzarano, an aunt. The cousins were in their 40s, and the aunt in her 70s; the three were killed before Sobel's life was taken, Shumlin said at a news conference Saturday night.
Barre Police Chief Timothy Bombardier said Sunday that he doesn't expect any more bodies will be found in relation to the case.
Bombardier said the weapon used to kill Sobel was a hunting rifle, but he would not reveal the caliber or additional details about it. He also would not comment on whether Jody Herring had obtained the gun legitimately or what may have triggered her to act Friday, weeks after losing custody of her daughter.
"That's one of those things that's open to interpretation, so I'm going to stay away from it," Bombardier said.
He also would not discuss the 9-year-old's father or his whereabouts. Officials said after Sobel's shooting that the girl remained in state custody.
Herring is to be arraigned this afternoon on the homicide charge. It wasn't clear if she had a lawyer who could comment on her behalf.
Lt. Gov. Phil Scott said he knew several members of the extended Herring family.
"It's my understanding after speaking with some of her [Jody Herring's] relatives that her father was one of 16 brothers and sisters. It's a large, extended family throughout central Vermont," Scott said.
Shumlin assured state workers and families that Herring's arrest ended any threat to others and that the care of Vermont's "most vulnerable children" remains a priority.
"We know that the incidents were horrific and absolutely heartbreaking," the governor said after returning early from vacation in Nova Scotia. "We also know and firmly believe that this was an isolated attack based upon the person we have in custody, who is the alleged perpetrator of these crimes."
He ordered the Vermont flag to be lowered to half-staff today through Wednesday at all state, federal and public buildings in honor of Sobel.
"I think all Vermonters are as shocked, dismayed, horrified and grief-stricken as all of us are," Shumlin said. "I cannot remember, in my lifetime, four people being murdered by the same alleged perpetrator."
The two shootings amount to the deadliest attack in Vermont since a quadruple murder in Belvidere in 2001.
Douglas Provost was convicted of shooting to death Mitchell Bishop; his daughter, Jessica Bishop; her fiance, George Weatherwax; and Deric Davis, who lived in an apartment in the Mitchell home. The Vermont Supreme Court upheld Provost's convictions in 2005. He is serving multiple life sentences.
Sobel's co-workers and members of the Vermont State Employees Association planned to hold a vigil Sunday. They were scheduled to gather at Old Labor Hall in Barre and march to Barre City Place, where Sobel was killed.
Ken Schatz, the commissioner for the Department for Children and Families, called Sobel's shooting "a heartbreaking tragedy." He called Sobel "an experienced social worker. She had been providing public service for children and families for more than 14 years."
Officials said that in the wake of the deaths, counseling and other support would be made available to state workers.
Information for this article was contributed by Lynne Tuohy of The Associated Press.
A Section on 08/10/2015