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- [S4] Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee), 5 Apr 2011.
Murder-suicide leaves questions
By Matt Lakin
Dylan Akers and his grandmother rarely spent a moment apart - not until the gunshots Saturday night.
Knoxville police say the 8-year-old died in a gas station restroom after his grandmother, Brenda Baker, shot him and then turned the gun on herself. Family members and investigators said they're still trying to understand what happened.
"They say it was a murder-suicide, and that's what it was," said Andy Akers, Dylan's father and Baker's son. "But they're both victims. No one knows the real circumstances, including me."
A clerk at the KenJo Market on the corner of Merchants Drive and Central Avenue Pike who heard the gunshots around 9 p.m. Saturday, found the bodies in the restroom and called E-911.
Dylan died at the scene, still in his pajamas, Knoxville Police Department Investigator Jason Booker wrote in a report. Baker, 54, lay nearby. She died Sunday at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, police said.
Authorities haven't said how many shots Baker fired or what kind of gun she used. Autopsies could be performed today.
Officers found a suicide note at the scene, said KPD Lt. Doug Stiles, commander of the Violent Crimes Unit. Police wouldn't say what the note contained.
"She wasn't in her right mind," Andy Akers said. "She couldn't have been. She had Dylan since he was about a year old. My mom couldn't live without my son, and my son couldn't live without her. ... She'd been under stress for years and years, and she just lost control."
Dylan attended second grade at Norwood Elementary School. Principal Beth Lackey called him "a sweet young man with a gentle spirit."
Andy Akers said his mother raised Dylan for most of the boy's life, along with Dylan's 4-year-old sister, Chloe. An older sister, Carrie, lives elsewhere with her mother, family members said.
Court records show Dylan's parents had been in jail on various charges since his birth. Akers left prison in February, where he'd spent time for a 2007 burglary.
Dylan's mother, Tina Marie O'Mary, remains jailed in Knox County on misdemeanor charges. Akers hopes she'll be able to leave jail for Dylan's funeral.
"Me and Tina had signed our rights over for Mom to have custody of Dylan," he said. "His mother's so torn up. I promised Dylan I'd be a good daddy when I got out. I didn't know how victims felt until I went to prison. I finished my time, and my Mom was so proud of me when I got out and she saw how good I was doing. I'd been visiting him the whole time. She was going to give me my custody back."
The family plans to hold a candlelight vigil tonight at 6 near the shooting scene.
"I just want everybody to know I lost the two most important people in my life, and it's hurting me more and more every day," Akers said.
Matt Lakin may be reached at 865-342-6306. Staff writer Don Jacobs contributed to this report.
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Abt 1957 - 2011 (~ 54 years)