A Pensacola man suspected of killing a mother and her adult son inside a Mobile photography studio took his own life hours later as law enforcement moved in to question him, closing out a case that stunned the small business community along North Florida Street.
Mobile police say Rosa Vaughn McGahagin, 67, of Spanish Fort, and her son, Daniel Herbert Vaughn, 43, of Mobile, were found dead of gunshot wounds inside Vaughn Photography around 3:45 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon. The business, which the family had operated for years, sat along North Florida Street in Mobile.
Investigators soon identified Terry Walton, 56, as the suspect in the killings. Police believe Walton shot and killed both victims before fleeing the scene and returning to his home in Pensacola. As Escambia County, Florida, sheriff’s deputies arrived at Walton’s residence and attempted to make contact with him, he turned a gun on himself inside the home, according to authorities.
Mobile Police Department spokesperson Ashley Rains said investigators determined that Walton and Vaughn knew each other, though officials did not immediately detail the nature of their relationship or offer a specific motive for the shooting. With Walton’s death, police said the case was considered closed, since the sole suspect was no longer alive to face charges.
The rapid sequence of events — from the discovery of two bodies in Mobile to a cross-state pursuit ending in Pensacola within the same day — required close coordination between Mobile police and law enforcement agencies in neighboring Escambia County, Florida. Such interstate cooperation is not unusual in cases where a suspect flees across the state line, but the compressed timeline in this case meant investigators had to move quickly to prevent additional harm.
The deaths shocked neighbors and customers of the family-run photography studio, a fixture in the North Florida Street corridor. Friends and clients described the business as a quiet, long-standing part of the neighborhood, making the violence that unfolded there especially jarring for the surrounding community.
Mobile police did not release additional details about a possible motive, and with the investigation considered closed following Walton’s death, few additional facts about the case were expected to come to light through the criminal justice system.