Fund Set Up For Murdered Oklahoma Mother's Children

Two days after a murder-suicide in Norman, the family is still trying to come to terms with what happened.

Sunday, July 19th 2015, 5:56 pm

By: News 9


Two days after a murder-suicide in Norman, the family is still trying to come to terms with what happened.

Norman police said Darrell East shot and killed his ex-wife, Laura, in the parking lot of Norman’s Regional HealthPlex, before killing himself. Inside that hospital, was Laura’s mother.

7/17/2015 Related Story: Two Dead At Norman HealthPlex In Apparent Murder-Suicide

“I’m here getting ready to have surgery, the next thing I knew, they’re telling me my daughter has been killed,” said Laura Harris, Laura East’s mother over the phone.

Now the family is just trying to help the children left behind.

“Honestly, my first reaction was where are the kids, that was all I asked,” said Angela Ferguson, Darrell East’s niece.

Ferguson said like most of the family, she still hasn’t processed what happened.

“Everybody's pretty broken up right now,” she said.

Court records show Laura East filed a restraining order against her ex-husband on June 18, but it was dismissed by the court 11 days later.

“I always cared a lot about Laura,” Ferguson said.

Not wanting to go into the couple's past problems, Ferguson said her main concern is Laura's children, who are now left without a mother.

“They don't really know what they need right now,” she said. “It's unimaginable, I can't process it and I’m a grown up, I can't imagine how these children feel and I know they don't know what they need.”

Laura leaves behind two daughters, 19 and 15, a 10-year-old son and a one-year-old grandchild.

“I have kids of my own and I can't even imagine what it would be like for those kids, so I felt like I had to protect them and do anything I could for them,” Ferguson said.

So not knowing what else to do, Ferguson set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for Laura's children.

“They're in shock,” she said. “They've lost everything.”

Ferguson said the money will go directly to the children for whatever they need. A memorial service is being planned for later this week.

logo

Get The Daily Update!

Be among the first to get breaking news, weather, and general news updates from News on 6 delivered right to your inbox!

More Like This

July 19th, 2015

March 14th, 2024

December 4th, 2023

September 25th, 2023

Top Headlines

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024