A 32-year-old Tennessee nurse practitioner shot and killed her two young sons and 88-year-old grandmother before killing herself in a horrific quadruple murder-suicide, authorities said. Deputies from the Humphreys County Sheriff's Office found the four victims during a welfare check at a Waverly home on Friday morning. Authorities said all had suffered gunshot wounds.
The victims were identified as Heather Thompson, 32; her sons, Arius Thompson, 4, and Isaiah Johnson, 13; and her grandmother, Evelyn Johnson, 88. Preliminary evidence suggests that Heather, who was estranged from the boys' father, shot her grandmother and then took the lives of her two sons before turning the gun on herself, according to authorities.
Entire Family Gone
Sheriff Chris Davis said investigators found no signs of forced entry and believe no one else was involved. He confirmed that Evelyn was Heather's grandmother. The sheriff added that there had been no prior domestic violence or mental health-related calls to the home and declined to speculate on a motive as the investigation continues.
A visibly emotional Davis told WSMV-TV that he personally knew the family. "Here again, small-town America. Here again, I know the families. So, we're going to do right by them," he said.
"We're going to respect them. We're going to do right by them."
The sheriff's office is being helped by the state's Bureau of Investigation.
Heather Thompson was a nurse practitioner with a master's degree from Walden University and worked at Ascension Saint Thomas Three Rivers Hospital in Waverly, according to public records.
She also ran a local wellness clinic. At the time of the killings, she was estranged from the boys' father, Jeremiah Thompson, The Nashville Tennessean reported.
In the wake of the tragedy, Jeremiah Thompson expressed his heartbreak on social media, saying the loss of his two sons "shattered" him and describing them as "just babies."
Peaceful Town Now Disturbed
Thompson, who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and works as a sandwich maker at Subway, started a GoFundMe campaign to help bring the children "back home to New Mexico from Tennessee." By Sunday morning, the campaign had raised nearly $11,000—over two-thirds of the way to his $16,000 goal.
The close-knit Waverly community has endured a string of tragedies in recent years, and this latest loss has only deepened its sorrow.
The family's home is located on East Little Richland Road, a rural area prone to flooding that was devastated by a catastrophic flash flood in August 2021.
That disaster claimed 20 lives and destroyed homes and businesses across the town, leaving lasting scars that many residents say have never fully healed.
The county was struck by tragedy once again when an explosion tore through an Accurate Energetic Systems plant near the Humphreys–Hickman county line, killing 16 people in one of the deadliest industrial accidents in Tennessee's history.
