Investigator Exclusive: Shooter murdered wife because she was nagging him, ex-mother-in-law says

CLEVELAND -- Davon Crawford said he shot his wife of three days because she was nagging him, an ex-mother-in-law of Crawford's told Channel 3 News.

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The woman's daughter is divorced from Crawford but has a son with him.

The former mother-in-law, who did not want to be named, said Crawford called her daughter the day five people were shot and killed on Cleveland's west side.

"He called her and told her he just shot some people,'' she said. "I think he said he shot his wife twice. And she said he sounded like he was out of breath.

"He said he was tired of (her) nagging, nagging him,'' she added. "That's what he said, nagging."

Cleveland police say they believe Crawford shot and killed his new wife, Lechea, and her sister and three of the sister's children. A fourth child is hospitalized.

Crawford killed himself during a police standoff Friday afternoon.

Crawford's former mother in law said he was in touch with her daughter twice this week -- and the circumstances were completely different each time.

On Monday, his birthday, Crawford sent a text to his ex-wife and told her it was "the happiest day of his life, that he had just got married."

Three days later, the circumstances were drastically different.

"The next thing I heard...(my daughter) said, 'He called me and told me he done shot his wife and some people,'" Crawford's former mother-in-law said.

She was not shocked by the news.

"He has a problem, mentally,'' she said. "And he snapped yesterday...I was always afraid of that when he was with my daughter."

She said several years ago, Crawford fired a gun at her daughter because he didn't think the lingerie on her bed was meant to be worn for him. Her daughter was holding their baby at the time.

"From where she was standing, holding his infant son at the time, if she hadn't stooped down to put the baby in the carrier, he would have got her," she said. Crawford served five years for domestic violence with a gun and endangering a child.

"I told the prosecutor that was prosecuting him at the time, jail wasn't going to do him no good..." his former mother-in-law said. "They should send him to a psych ward."