What led to Polk County, Texas man, Randy Joe Horn shooting dead his wife, their 15 month old daughter and the woman’s parents before shooting self dead?
A Polk County, Texas man has allegedly shot dead his wife, the couple’s 15 month old baby along with his wife’s parents before fatally shooting himself in a suspected murder suicide.
Identified as the perpetrator was 54 year old husband, Randy Joe Horn,- with family members on social media identifying the victims as wife, Ashley Delaney Horn, 27, 15 month old toddler, Ranley Horn, Lynda Elliott Delaney, 72 and Carlos (Gene) Eugene Delaney, 74.
The fatalities were found dead of gunshot wounds on Monday at the Delaney ranch near Livingston, Texas, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office told the Houston Chronicle.
Authorities said that Randy Horn was found dead inside the home with one other person. The other three victims were found dead outside of the home.
A sixth person, survived the shooting after a woman told authorities she was locked in her bedroom and heard ‘popping’ sounds and called her son, who in turn notified police.
Click 2 Houston, identified the woman in the bedroom as Ashley Horn’s mother. She is not considered to be a suspect.
Randy Joe Horn shoots family members as wife was visiting her parents:
To date no arrests have been made, with authorities saying there were no outstanding suspects and no threat to the community. A motive for the murders has not been made public. While police have not confirmed that the case is a murder-suicide, family members confirmed via the dailymail that Randy Horn killed his four family members before turning the gun on himself.
Randy Horn and Ashley Horn, 27, have been married since 2017. The couple’s daughter turned 1 in November. Ashley’s parents, Lynda and Gene Delaney lived on the ranch in Polk County for several years. The shootings took place about 75 miles from Houston.
It is thought the shootings took place while Ashley was visiting her grandparents and mother when the shootings occurred.
‘This has been a rough day,’ Polk County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Byron Lyons told reporters at a press conference. ‘This is a horrible, horrific crime. I ask that the community pray for this family. This is something Polk County is not used to.’
Lyons added, ‘This is something that has rocked the community and our law enforcement. Each one of us has kids at home, and when you look at a scene like this, it touches home.’
A firearm was recovered at the scene. Police have not said what type of gun was used in the shootings.
While Randy Horn did not have a felony criminal record in Texas, according to Texas Department of Public Safety records- he was arrested several times, including in 1989 on a felony aggravated assault charge, according to those records.
Randy Joe Horn wife Ashley filed for divorce in 2018:
A report via heavy cited court records showing wife, Ashley Horn filing for divorce from Randy Horn in Montgomery County, Texas, in October 2018. Both sides were represented pro se, and dropped the case without prejudice in November 2018. The couple lived together in Splendora, Texas, at the time, records show.
Social media posts revealed Randy and Ashley Horn getting married June 9, 2017. Ashley Delaney Horn gave birth to their daughter, Ranley Horn, on November 11, 2017.
Montgomery County court records revealed Randy and his first wife divorced in February 2017. Ashley had previously also been married- with neither partner previously bearing children.
Nevertheless despite the birth of the couple’s daughter- fissures existed in the couple’s relationship according to those who knew the couple.
‘I was told that she was probably leaving him,’ family friend, Terri Robinson said about Ashley and Randy via the dailymal. ‘He was a lot older than her. I didn’t know Randy, so I couldn’t make a judgement on him at the time. It’s just a vibe I had.’
Adding, ‘I hung out with them both but I didn’t know him that well. He got drunk when I hung out with them once and kept wanting to fight someone in the bar.’
Robinson said she hopes Randy ‘rots in hell.’
Randy Joe Horn ominous Facebook post hours before shooting:
A regard of Randy Horn’s Facebook page where he went by the name of Randy “Hurricane” Horn, revealed him to be an Indiana native. The about section revealed the alleged shooter owning and operating a youth boxing club, ‘Texas Hard Hitters’ in the Houston area for several years.
‘People come here for different things,’ Horn told the Houston Chronicle in a 2014 story. ‘They come here for self-defense, to promote anti-bullying [and] weight loss. We are also a mentoring program for problematic children, in some cases. No matter why they are here, I train them like they are going to compete.’
Added Horn at the time, ‘We get lots of word of mouth referrals from parents and I have a lot of parents thank me for helping get their son or daughter on track. We have all of the students sign a code of conduct for when they are here and when they’re not. It’s great to see a lot of them really come out of their shell. I really just work them out so hard when they are here that they are actually asleep at night.’
It remained unclear if the boxing outlet remained open.
Perhaps most disquieting was a recent post Randy Horn had posted on Facebook, on February 10 which hinted at the combustible chaos that was to come in the hours ahead.
Posted Horn circa 6:30 p.m., just hours before the shootings, ‘It’s time to pay up for all the bad Decisions you made in life…never bet your life on someone because you never know….’
He also posted a photo of a bloody floor about 1 a.m. on February 11 with the caption, ‘And this is why i can’t be out in the bars at night….blood on the floor!’ The photo does appear to be from a bar or restaurant he often frequented.
