Home World U.S. News Ramie Grimmer, the 12-year-old girl shot by her mother during a standoff...

Ramie Grimmer, the 12-year-old girl shot by her mother during a standoff at Texas welfare office, has died

1

12-year-old Ramie Marie Grimmer, who was shot by her mother during a standoff at a Texas welfare office, has died yesterday.

According to a Laredo police spokesman said Ramie Marie Grimmer died yesterday at a San Antonio hospital.

Her 10-year-old brother is still in a critical condition.

Rachelle Grimmer, 38, the mother of children was found dead on Monday inside the office in Laredo.

Rachelle Grimmer shot her children and then she killed herself during a seven-hour standoff with police, after she was denied for food stamps.

Ramie Grimmer’s Facebook profile had been updated to read “may die 2day” just hours before the shootings.

The Texas Department of Health and Human Services says the agency rejected Rachelle Grimmer’s application because she did not submit enough information.

Rachelle Grimmer had been embroiled in a battle with the welfare department to try to gain benefits for her family since July.

The woman took her children to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission office in Laredo on Monday at 5:00 p.m. and demanded to speak to a supervisor.

Rachelle Grimmer then pulled out a handgun and began threatening several employees, authorities said.

Rachelle Grimmer held two employees hostage until a male supervisor stepped in and stayed with her while she released the other workers.

The mother took the man and her two children into another room while a SWAT team managed to evacuate 30 people.

Rachelle Grimmer released the supervisor at 7:45 p.m. but remained in the building with her children.

Laredo police spokesman said Ramie Marie Grimmer died yesterday at a San Antonio hospital

Laredo police spokesman said Ramie Marie Grimmer died yesterday at a San Antonio hospital

During the seven-hour stand-off, the apparent Facebook profile of Ramie Marie Grimmer was updated regularly.

At 7:50 p.m., the girl wrote: “May die 2day” on her wall. She then accepted a friend request before writing “I’m bored” at 10:34 p.m. and tagged her location as Laredo, Texas.

The girl then “liked” the band Evanescence and wrote “ahhhhhhhhhhahhhhhh” at 10:52 p.m.

At 11:28 p.m., Ramie Grimmer wrote “tear gas seriasly”. [sic]

Hostage negotiators were in communication with Rachelle Grimmer but it was intermittent as she frequently hung up, according to police.

Joe Baeza of the Laredo Police Department reported on Tuesday: “About 11:45 last night, she hung up the phone with negotiators, and a little bit later, negotiators heard three shots.”

The SWAT team at the front of the building heard children crying and officers stormed in, finding the three in the front office.

The children were airlifted to a hospital in San Antonio in critical condition and the mother was dead at the scene.

Officer Joe Baeza said: “She had issues and felt that she had been let down by social services in general.

“She was making all sorts of outlandish claims.”

Authorities said Rachelle Grimmer, from Ohio, had arrived in Laredo about eight months ago and had lived with her kids in several locations around the border city.

The children’s grandmother, Mary Lee Shepherd said Rachelle Grimmer “was mentally ill” and she tried to get her help.

Mary Lee Shepherd said her son Dale Grimmer, the children’s father, was flying Wednesday from Montana to San Antonio hospital to be with the children.

Dale and Rachelle Grimmer divorced six or seven years ago, after she and the children moved from Montana to Ohio, Mary Lee Shepherd said.

Dale Grimmer also moved to Ohio and was able to visit the children from time to time, but Rachelle Grimmer moved and did not inform him or the court, Mary Lee Shepherd said.

The grandmother said she or her son contacted social workers in Montana twice and in Ohio once because they were concerned that Rachelle Grimmer could harm the children.

Mary Lee Shepherd declined to detail her former daughter-in-law’s mental problems or say what caused them to make those calls.

Her claims could not immediately be verified Wednesday with state child welfare officials in Montana and Ohio.

However, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services reported finding two cases Wednesday involving Rachelle Grimmer and her children.

In the first case, reported September 15, 2010, the department received a possible neglect report after Rachelle Grimmer and her two children were found living in a tent on a South Texas beach.

Investigators found no evidence of neglect and closed the case, spokesman Patrick Crimmins said.

In a report made last June, Corpus Christi police said Rachelle Grimmer had come to police headquarters with her two children and reported that she had been a domestic violence victim.

Caseworkers checked on her and the children, determined the children were not at risk and took no further action, Patrick Crimmins said.

Patrick Crimminis said the findings had been delayed until Wednesday because Rachelle Grimmer’s surname was spelled differently in the department database, and she was listed under a different first name.

Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Commission, confirmed that Grimmer applied for food stamps in July and was denied.

The spokeswoman said Rachelle Grimmer’s application was incomplete and that she was not sure whether the woman qualified for assistance.