Emergency personnel respond to tragic shooting at Texas Health and Human Services Office in Laredo on Monday.
A Texas mother who was desperate over being denied food stamps shot her two children and then committed suicide after a seven-hour standoff with SWAT teams at a state welfare office, authorities said.
Ramie Grimmer, 12, and her brother Timothy, 10, were clinging to life at a San Antonio hospital after Monday night's horrific ordeal, during which Ramie apparently updated her Facebook page to say "may die 2day."
The chilling incident began about 5 p.m. Monday when Rachelle Grimmer, 38, visited a state welfare office in Laredo to discuss a food stamp application she had submitted in July, police said.
Caseworkers took Grimmer to a private room, where the distraught mom pulled a gun and threatened employees, authorities said.
Police negotiators spent the next several hours trying to persuade Grimmer to bring her children out safely, but she refused, instead haranguing them about the red tape she grappled with while trying to feed her family, The Associated Press reported.
At one point, Ramie Grimmer posted an update on Facebook that said "tear gas " — an apparent reference to tear gas being fired at the building.
Finally, just before midnight, cops heard three shots and stormed the building, where they discovered Grimmer lying dead in a pool of blood.
Her children were nearby, unconscious and bleeding from gunshot wounds.
A Texas mother who was desperate over being denied food stamps shot her two children and then committed suicide after a seven-hour standoff with SWAT teams at a state welfare office, authorities said.
Ramie Grimmer, 12, and her brother Timothy, 10, were clinging to life at a San Antonio hospital after Monday night's horrific ordeal, during which Ramie apparently updated her Facebook page to say "may die 2day."
The chilling incident began about 5 p.m. Monday when Rachelle Grimmer, 38, visited a state welfare office in Laredo to discuss a food stamp application she had submitted in July, police said.
Caseworkers took Grimmer to a private room, where the distraught mom pulled a gun and threatened employees, authorities said.
Police negotiators spent the next several hours trying to persuade Grimmer to bring her children out safely, but she refused, instead haranguing them about the red tape she grappled with while trying to feed her family, The Associated Press reported.
At one point, Ramie Grimmer posted an update on Facebook that said "tear gas " — an apparent reference to tear gas being fired at the building.
Finally, just before midnight, cops heard three shots and stormed the building, where they discovered Grimmer lying dead in a pool of blood.
Her children were nearby, unconscious and bleeding from gunshot wounds.