Man hugged girl, 7, at soccer practice, then killed her

(detroitfreepress) 12/04/2015 Emma Watson Nowling took a quick break from soccer practice Thursday night to greet a man walking by the sidelines.

“Little Emma went up and gave the guy a hug,” Emma's soccer coach, Mario Scicluna, said.

Later that night, that man, Timothy Nelson Obeshaw, shot 7-year-old Emma and her mother, 37-year-old Sharon Elizabeth Watson, in the parking of the Taylor Sportsplex before turning his 9mm pistol on himself, according to Taylor police. Authorities described Obeshaw as a family friend.

Emma died from her injuries. Watson is in serious condition at a local hospital, police said.

Police said family members described the 57-year-old Obeshaw — who had lived with Watson and her boyfriend at their home in Belleville before recently moving to a home in Taylor — as mentally unstable. A motive, though, remains unclear, according to police.

"Police found evidence that Obeshaw believed someone was trying to perform mind control on him," according to a news release from the Taylor Police Department.

Police said the girl and her mother were at the Sportsplex for soccer practice. Obeshaw was there, too, and "there was what appeared to be friendly interaction between the three at the start of practice," the release says. (Full Text)