Marine Veteran Killed Children Then Herself

UPDATE
Autopsy: Veteran 15 weeks pregnant at time of murder-suicide
March 17, 2015

Johnny Isakson backs Atlanta VA director in wake of a veteran’s apparent murder-suicide
AJC News February 3, 2015

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., speaks at a news conference at the Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters in Washington. Behind him: House VA Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla.; House VA Committee ranking Democrat Corrine Brown, D-Fla.; VA Secretary Robert McDonald; Senate VA Committee ranking Democrat Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. (AJC/Daniel Malloy)

WASHINGTON — Georgia Republican U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, the chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, backed the Atlanta VA’s leadership in the case of a Cobb County veteran accused of killing her three children and herself.

Internal VA documents labeled Kisha Holmes a “high risk for suicide” and she had missed mental health appointments in December.

She and her children, aged 10, 4 and 9 months, were found inside their Austell apartment last week.

Isakson said at a news conference Tuesday that he was privy to details of the internal investigation that he could not share, and the medical center’s director, Leslie Wiggins, called him “immediately” after the incident.

Isakson’s assessment:

“I can’t discuss everything I know, but I think as the story unfolds, people will understand the VA does an excellent job and we recognize one of the big differences with soft tissue issues – which is PTSD and TBI – you have to have a continuum of care and contact, where people can fall through the cracks.

 “The Atlanta VA has done a wonderful job of seeing to it that the veteran has the close touch and the close contact with the VA mental health supervisors there in charge of it, and I’m sure when all the facts come out, we’ll understand this tragedy was something, hopefully, that could have been prevented, but we’ll do a better job of seeing to it that it doesn’t happen again.”
read more here

After Georgia ex-Marine kills her children, then herself, VA suicide programs to be reviewed
Kisha Holmes, 35, was tagged as a high risk for suicide, according to reports. New legislation would require the evaluation of suicide-prevention treatment for vets.
BY DEBORAH HASTINGS
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, February 3, 2015