After mother was shot to death, her family fights for custody of twin boys
Thursday
Dec 4, 2013 at 6:00 PM
By Amy Goodman
(Amy Goodman/Democracy Now!): The family of slain Oakland mother of three Susan Moore are fighting to get two of her sons to go to court to determine whether Susan’s ex-husband can be considered an unfit parent. But the judge has already sided with their two boys’ rights: they’re getting custody of their half-sisters, both with the ex-husband’s name on them.
The Moore family says their son, 19-year-old Daniel Moore, wants to be with him, his stepmother and five-year-old half-brother, whose mother’s name Susan Moore and her boyfriend’s name are on the children’s birth certificates.
Susan Moore’s boyfriend, Daniel H. Moore Jr. says he’s trying to live with Susan’s ex-husband, a man who has been named in court documents and media reports as her killer, but not her husband.
Susan Moore and her boyfriend left Moore’s house in the suburb of Emeryville after getting into a physical altercation with Susan’s mother, who was also present inside. When the boyfriend was pulled out of the house, Moore’s mother was fatally shot. Moore’s sons, who were asleep, were awoken to see police cars, emergency medical technicians and police dogs entering the house.
During a visit to Susan Moore’s grave by her grieving son and daughter-in-law, they were surrounded by police dogs, including a trained German Shepherd. The dogs were on display at the cemetery.
Susan’s mother, Betty White, a retired nurse, was shot at point-blank range in the back of the head while sitting at a kitchen table with Daniel Moore and two other men, according to the police. Police later charged Daniel Moore based on surveillance photos found on his laptop, which showed him in their home with a firearm, a police report said.
Betty White had been dead before she was shot by Daniel Moore and, according to the police, was lying on her back at the table when a bullet from the gun fired into her head, police said.
In an interview with Democracy Now!, Daniel Moore’s mother, Patricia Moore, said that the bullet that killed her mother, “went