State: Mom who shot kids, self denied food stamps

State: Mom who shot kids, self denied food stamps

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - A Texas woman who for months was unable to qualify for food stamps pulled a gun in a state welfare office and staged a seven-hour standoff with police that ended with her shooting her two children before killing herself, officials said Tuesday.

The children, a 10-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl, remained in critical condition Tuesday. The shooting took place at a Texas Department of Health and Human Services building in Laredo, where police said about 25 people were inside at the time.

Authorities identified the mother as Rachelle Grimmer, 38, and children Ramie and Timothy. Laredo police investigator Joe Baeza said Grimmer had recently moved to the border city from Zanesville, Ohio, about 30 miles east of Columbus.

Grimmer first applied for food stamps in July but was denied because she didn’t turn in enough information, Texas Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said.

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State: Mom who shot kids, self denied food stamps

I am NOT going to pass judgement on this woman, I don’t know ALL of the circumstances and apparently, neither do the authorities.

Obviously this was a troubled person, one at the end of her rope, for whatever reason I just don’t know. But I DO know this, sometimes BAD things happen to GOOD people.

And then we see a story like this one:

Feds: Couple claimed welfare, lived in $1.2M home

SEATTLE (AP) - A Seattle chiropractor and his wife live in a $1.2 million waterfront home and have spent the past eight years flying to Moscow, Paris, Israel, Turkey, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

All the while, federal authorities say, the couple was collecting more than $100,000 in welfare.

Now, the U.S. attorney’s office is suing David Silverstein and Lyudmila Shimonova, accusing them of filing false claims and demanding that the couple pay back more than $135,000 in federal housing assistance since 2003. Prosecutors are also seeking tens of thousands of dollars in fines.

In gaining Section 8 housing assistance, Shimonova represented that she lived alone with her two children and that her household assets were less than $5,000. Silverstein received the monthly benefits of $1,272 as Shimonova’s purported landlord, the government said.

Shimonova also received benefits under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, as well as Social Security cash reserved for people who can’t work due to age or disability and whose assets fall below a certain threshold - $3,000 for a married couple or $2,000 for a single person, the complaint said.

“Defendants have separately and, it appears, in conjunction with one another made false representations to various state and federal agencies in order to obtain federally funded benefits,” assistant U.S. attorneys Harold Malkin and Kayla Stahman wrote.

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Feds: Couple claimed welfare, lived in $1.2M home

I don’t know what compelled Rachelle Grimmer to take such drastic actions, but these two in the above story, David Silverstein and Lyudmila Shimonova, are scamming the system in order to get what they probably consider to be *free money*.

Maybe people like Rachelle Grimmer simply need a *hand UP*, while people like David Silverstein and Lyudmila Shimonova need a swift kick in the ass and a LONG prison stay!