By: MATT VOLZ | Associated Press
Published: December 13, 2011

Helena, Mont. -- HELENA, Mont. (AP) Arrangements were being made Tuesday to transport the remains of two children for burial in their father's hometown in Montana after their mother shot them in a standoff over food stamps in a Texas welfare office.

The father, Dale Grimmer, donated the organs of 12-year-old Ramie and 10-year-old Timothy before moving to return their cremated remains to the southwestern Montana town of Anaconda, where funeral plans were pending, said Mary Lee Shepherd, Dale Grimmer's mother.

Dale Grimmer planned to invite the mother of Rachelle Grimmer to the funeral service in hopes the gesture will help both families move past the tragedy, Shepherd said.

"It's over and it's too late now," Shepherd said. "I know she was failed by the system."

Authorities say Rachelle Grimmer, 38, shot the children and killed herself with a .38-caliber handgun on Dec. 5 at the Laredo office of the Texas Department of Health and Human Services. The shooting came after a seven-hour standoff that began when she asked to speak to a caseworker about why her food stamps application had been rejected. The children died in a San Antonio hospital last Wednesday and Thursday.

The mother and children had moved to Texas from Ohio and had been living in a trailer park at the time of the shootings. Rachel Grimmer was jobless and had been seeking food stamps since July. Texas officials rejected her application because she never submitted proof of income, such as documentation of how much child support she received.

Grimmer's aunt, Peggy Watts, said her family knew that Grimmer and her children were struggling financially but did not realize how desperate their situation had become.

Watts, of Crooksville, Ohio, said she never could have imagined Grimmer would be pushed to the point where she could harm her children.

"It may have been in the back of her mind that she didn't want to leave them in this kind of world without her to take care of them," she said.

Watts said Dale Grimmer owed thousands of dollars in child support. Shepherd disputed that contention, saying her son made regular child-support payments that Rachelle Grimmer received even after the move to Texas, although the last known address he had for his ex-wife and children was in Ohio.

Watts also took issue with comments by Shepherd that Rachelle Grimmer had mental problems. Each time Dale Grimmer's family made a complaint in an attempt to remove the children from Rachelle Grimmer's custody, the responding authorities found nothing wrong and closed the cases, Watts said.

A Corpus Christi incident report obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press in a freedom of information request said Rachelle Grimmer and her children walked into the police department in June to report that her husband was connected with the Ku Klux Klan and a gang known as MS13, and that those groups were stalking her.

The officers who wrote that "in talking with Grimmer it was evident that she may be mentally challenged," and that they were concerned for the children's well-being "because of Grimmer's obvious mental issues."

Grimmer told the officers that the family was living on the beach, she worked one night a week and they collected aluminum cans to make ends meet.

The police department called Child Protective Services to check on the family, according to the report.

"CPS was satisfied with the well-being of the children and advised that they would follow up on the investigation at a later date," the report said.

Grimmer was desperate for help but had become distrustful of others then wound up getting the run-around from those who could help, Watts said.

"She was independent and a free spirit and she didn't trust anyone any more. I think she had been hurt too many times, and she felt like the system had let her down," Watts said.

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AP writers Lisa Cornwell in Cincinnati and Christopher Sherman in McAllen, Texas, contributed to this report.

http://www2.wsls.com/lifestyles/2011/dec/13/kids-shot-in-welfare-dispute-to-be-buried-in-
mont-ar-1541612/

Emphasis added by H4K Editor