Mom Kills Social Worker After Losing Custody of Daughter

A Vermont mother who lost custody of her 9-year-old daughter shot and killed the social worker who oversaw her case, according to police.

Jody Herring used a high-caliber hunting rifle to kill Lara Sobel outside of her office building Friday afternoon. Sobel, who had a daughter of her own, died on the scene.

Investigators are looking into whether Sobel and Herring knew each other outside of the custody case. Herring lost custody of her daughter on July 10, and the child is still in state care.

Vermont governor Peter Shumlin ordered staffers at the Department for Children and Families, where Sobel worked, to be accompanied by police on emergency calls over the weekend. “The employees at DCF deal with the most challenging family situations that one can imagine,” Shumlin said in a statement. “They do the work out of their dedication to the children and families of this great state. To lose one of our own in the course of that duty is shocking and heartbreaking.”

[USA Today]