Seven children are without a mother after an apparent murder-suicide outside a Chick-fil-A in Rome, Georgia. According to police, 56-year-old Anthony Wayne approached 39-year-old Cassie Lashae Davis in the early morning hours of April 5th. Davis was stopped in the pick-up lane of the Chick-fil-A drive-thru when Wayne shot her three times. He later allegedly shot and killed himself. Police were called to the scene initially as an accident because Davis’s car rolled forward into an embankment after the shooting, but they soon learned the true details en route. They stated that Davis and Wayne had previously been in a domestic relationship.

Jackson Davis, who had been married to Cassie for 12 years before the two separated, mourned the loss on Facebook. “Never ever will [there] be another you,” he wrote, lamenting that he felt he had taken advantage of her. Speaking to 11 Alive, he said that Cassie had been raising 7 children from the ages of 5 to 18. Two of the children had been Cassie’s sons from a previous relationship, the couple had two girls of their own, and Cassie had taken several of Davis’s grandchildren in to raise. “…she took my granddaughter and my grandkids in. Grandkids that she didn’t have to raise. And she raised them as her own,” said Davis. The loss has been especially hard on the children, with Jackson noting how one of his grandchildren has been asking for Jesus’s number. “What do you say when your granddaughter says, ‘Daddy, do you have Jesus’ number because I want to talk to mama one more time?'” he asked. He stated he was coping by giving the situation to God and warned women, “If you’re in one of those relationships— a jealous relationship or anything like that, get out of it before it’s too late because jealousy doesn’t look good on anybody.”

Doug Walters, Cassie’s brother, stated that Wayne’s actions were unfathomable. “This isn’t somebody I met a month ago. I mean, I’ve known him forever,” he said of Wayne. “I’m just truly lost for words. I mean, I don’t….my mind can’t— it doesn’t want to develop what’s really took place. I mean, it just feels like I’m in a dream and need to wake up,” he added. Cassie’s mother, Kathie Walters, described Wayne as “jealous” and said that Cassie had said he’d been following her. “He just wouldn’t leave her alone. That’s one thing she told me yesterday, that he was following her around,” she said. Cassie’s obituary shared that her “greatest joy in life was time spent with her children, and she was always there for their sporting events.” Funeral services were scheduled to be held on April 12th.