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8-Year-Old Girl Thanks Deputies Who Shot Man Trying To Strangle Her After He’d Just Massacred Her Mother And Sister
“I think I’m strong because of my mommy as an angel in heaven. I think she’s gonna be my angel,” Hailey Grimm said after Mark Gago killed her family.
An Oregon man had just massacred his girlfriend, their infant daughter and his parents and had his hands wrapped around the throat of his slain partner's 8-year-old daughter when deputies burst in and shot him dead.
Mark Leo Gregory Gago killed his four victims at the rural Oregon home they all shared, Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said in a press release.
Hailey Grimm, the 8-year-old girl who survived the attack, told KPTV in Portland that Gago was speaking in riddles as he put his hands around her throat, just before deputies arrived on the scene.
“Then when they came in my room. He yelled, ‘No!’” she said. At that moment, deputies shot Gago to death. They say he was trying to kill her.
“Police officers, if you’re watching this, thank you,” said Hailey.
Hailey’s mother, 31-year-old Shaina E. Sweitzer, and sister, 9-month-old Olivia Lynn Rose Gago, died in the attack. Gago also killed his parents, Jerry William Bremer, 66, and Pamela Denise Bremer, 64.
Hailey said her mother is now her guardian angel.
“I think I’m strong because of my mommy as an angel in heaven. I think she’s gonna be my angel,” the girl, who was sitting alongside her father Jason Grimm, told KPTV. “I miss my mommy and Olivia a lot. And the last time I saw my mommy is when she said ‘I love you.’”
Police have not disclosed what kind of weapon was used in the attack but they said that the victims were not shot. Grimm’s grandmother Debi Barry, told the Oregonian that Gago was carrying an axe.
Sheriff's Office Sgt. Brian Jensen did say that the crime scene was disturbing during a Sunday press conference.
"I've been told that there were numerous weapons, swords, things of that nature in the residence," he said. "The investigators are trying to determine what exactly was used to kill each person."
A roommate also survived the attack, suffering a non-life threatening injury.
Gago had been previously arrested in August on a weapons charge.
Grimm said she is now dreaming of her slain mother.
“Every time I dream at night, I can’t stop thinking about my mommy,” she said. “She was the best mommy ever.”
[Photo: Clackamas County Sheriff's Office]
