Sacramento Man Arrested on Felony Charges Days Before Murder-Suicide Involving His Three Daughters, Church Elder

More details have begun to emerge regarding the tragic murder-suicide that took place at The Church in Sacramento located in California on Monday evening. The assailant has been identified as David Mora, 39, and the victims were his three daughters (ages 9, 10 and 13) and Nathaniel Kong, 59, who was an elder at the church.

Mora was at the church for supervised visitation with his daughters when he opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle.

Just a few days before the tragic incident, he was arrested ​​on charges of resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and driving under the influence. During the arrest, Mora assaulted a California Highway Patrol officer, causing injuries to the officer.

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According to court documents (in which Mora is identified as David Fidel Mora Rojas), Mora’s former girlfriend of 15 years filed a domestic violence restraining order against him in April of 2021, saying that she feared for the safety of herself and her daughters. 

In the filing, the former girlfriend claimed that Mora had threatened to kill her if she ever cheated on him, and that Mora had also said the only reason he had not already killed her was because he wouldn’t know how to care for the children. 

“He has choked me in the past,” the filing also said.

After authorities took Mora into custody on a psychiatric hold and administered a mental health evaluation, a five-year restraining order was placed against him. He was barred from visitation with his daughters unless a chaperon was present and was disallowed from possessing firearms or ammunition. 

Authorities have not released any details regarding how Mora came into possession of the murder weapon, and the investigation is ongoing. According to Julie Bornhoeft, a domestic violence victim advocate with crisis intervention service WEAVE Inc., gaps exist in the enforcement of restraining order restrictions when it comes to firearms.

“It is left to an honor system with a person who has already hurt or threatened a partner being relied upon to abide by the law,” Bornhoeft said to Yahoo! News. “It is a flawed system.”

Mora’s visitation was limited to no more than four hours a week under the supervision of a mutually agreed upon chaperon. The chaperone that the couple selected was The Church of Sacramento elder Nathaniel Kong.