Cherokee County father fatally shoots his teenage daughter before killing himself

A 57-year-old Cherokee County father, Howard Newhouse, fatally shot his 19-year-old daughter before killing himself.

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a shooting at a home in the Bridge Mill subdivision in Canton, Georgia, at approximately 5:45 p.m. on March 19 and found the bodies of Newhouse and his daughter. The officials confirmed that Newhouse had shot his daughter, Kathryn Newhouse, before committing suicide by shooting himself.

Kathryn’s mother was reportedly at home during the incident, but she was not injured. The teen’s brother Chris Newhouse, who woke up to a voicemail from his mother regarding the incident, attributed the incident to his family’s mental health.

“A tragic culmination of all of these different mental health issues that kind of compounded and led to such a, escalated to a situation that – it shouldn’t have happened, but it happened,” Chris told WGCL.

Chris apparently had had lunch with his father and sister earlier on Saturday and did not see any signs of anger or violence. He explained that his sister, who identified as a transgender woman, had suffered from psychological disorders for years. She was released from an in-patient mental health institution before the pandemic.

“Whenever they pushed her out of that mental health intuition and forced her to come back home, that’s when everything really brought a lot of stress and tension upon our family and that’s when a lot of the stressful stuff started happening,” he added.

Newhouse and his daughter had reportedly been arrested in separate battery cases in the past. Newhouse allegedly held Kathryn down by her throat on a bed on April 9, 2019, but the case was dismissed through a pre-trial diversion program on April 30, 2020.

In another case that occurred on Jan. 28, 2020, Kathryn allegedly struck a cup her father was holding in his hand, which resulted in his glasses being pushed into his face and cutting his nose. The case was also dismissed on the condition of Kathryn completing a mental health treatment, writing an apology and taking a life skills course.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. For a list of international suicide hotlines, click here.

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