A shooting inside a Mobile photography studio left two family members dead and shook a wide circle of relatives, friends and former students, according to police and a family member who spoke about the loss.
Investigators said Daniel Herbert Vaughn, 43, of Mobile and his mother, 67-year-old Rosa Vaughn McGahagin of Spanish Fort, were fatally shot inside Vaughn Photography on North Florida Street. Mobile police said officers were called to the studio around 4 p.m. after someone walked in and found the two dead.
Authorities identified 56-year-old Terry Walton as the suspect in the killings. When deputies in Escambia County, Fla., went to Walton’s home in Pensacola, he fatally shot himself inside the residence, according to police. Investigators said the case was considered cleared with his death. A relative said the violence grew out of a domestic conflict connected to Vaughn.
Betty Bacon, an aunt of Vaughn’s estranged wife, remembered him warmly. “He was a good guy. He was one of the white hats,” she said. Rosa McGahagin had recently started working alongside her son at the studio to help with the business, Bacon said. She called the deaths “an unfortunate tragedy.”
Vaughn was the father of two children who attend schools in Mobile. “Daniel’s children lost both their dad and grandmother in one night,” Bacon said. She noted that McGahagin also had another child, and estimated that dozens of people were touched by the loss. “There’s probably at least 50 people that are directly affected by this man’s actions, who we never met, we never knew,” she said.
Beyond his photography work, Vaughn had been furthering his education with the goal of returning to teaching, according to Bacon, who said he had previously taught summer photography courses at Spring Hill College in Mobile. Court records show he had been married since 1992, though he and his wife were separated at the time of his death.
Mobile Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Rains confirmed the details of the response and the identifications. With all three people involved now deceased, the department said no charges would follow, and the investigation into the double homicide was closed.