MONTEREY, Tenn. — A grieving brother and sister said their parents murder-suicide could have been prevented, and newly released 911 recordings may support that claim.
The recordings confirm police had stopped Danny Harville just hours before he murdered his wife and killed himself.
The Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic Violence is calling the case tragic and unnecessary.
Danny Harville killed his wife and shot himself while his sons, age 17 and 6, were locked inside a room.
The 911 recordings revealed a woman who said she was scared for her life but refused to go to a shelter.
On Oct. 25 at 3:09 a.m., Angie Harville called 911. Her husband Danny, who she had kicked out of the house in September, was kicking on the door. He had just been released from a mental hospital.
“My husband, soon to be ex-husband, he’s beating on the door, beating holes in the walls. I need an officer over here to make him leave please,” Angie Harville told dispatchers.
“Is he still out there now?” dispatchers replied.
“Yes, he is trying to beat the door in real quick. He tried to commit suicide a couple weeks ago. He was in a mental institute.”
Danny Harville left, but he took Angie Harville’s cell phone, slashed her tires and cut her brake lines. Police did not take out a warrant. They looked around and left.
At 6:44, Angie Harville calls 911 again.
“Earlier tonight, when you spoke to an officer, did you make a domestic violence report?” dispatch asked.
“They wouldn’t let me. They wouldn’t let me. They didn’t take out any charges. He’s going to get away again,” Angie Harville was heard saying on the recording.
“What did they tell you?”
“They told me he lives here and there are holes in all of my walls and he is going to kill me!”
Monterey officers arrived and asked Angie Harville repeatedly to come with them to a shelter.
“She stated she was afraid that Mr. Harville would burn down the house,” Officer Jennifer White wrote in her report. “I explained to her that those were just material things, but her life and her children’s lives were more important.”
Angie Harville refused to leave.
Police found Danny Harville at a convenience store but did not arrest him. They took Angie Harville’s cell phone from him and let him go.
Kathy Walsh of the Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic Violence said the officers ignored the law.
“Our assault law clearly said someone can place you in fear,” said Walsh. “So someone threatens they will kill you, someone breaks your door down, cuts the brakes on your car and so placing someone in fear is an assault and that’s enough for police to make an arrest.”
The next 911 call came from 17-year-old Brandon, who was locked in his bedroom with his 6-year-old brother.
“My parents have been fighting for a few days and I just heard a gunshot upstairs,” Brandon told dispatchers.
“Do you want to go up there?” he was asked. “No, I don’t.”
Monterey Police Chief Bill Randolph said there is another side to the story.
He said Angie Harville would not help herself and it handcuffed his officers.
Randolph said he is willing to turn over all police video of the home that morning.
