Mom Attacked by 2 Sons Begs for Help

A terrified mother tells the Snellville, Georgia, dispatcher she just heard one of her sons ask,
"Where did mom go?" They're on their way upstairs now, she tells the 911 operator, barely completing her sentence before letting out a muffled scream.

The phone emits two tones as if someone is pressing the number keys. A male voice in the background says something about a phone. 

The mother sounds as if she's crying when she says, "The police are on their way. The police are on their way." She is no longer speaking to the dispatcher. 

"Hello? ... Hello? ... Hello, ma'am?" the dispatcher calls. There is no reply, only silence on the other end. 

Two Atlanta-area brothers remained behind bars Tuesday and charged with multiple felonies after police said they attempted to kill their parents over the weekend.

Yvonne Ervin has been treated and discharged from Gwinnett Medical Center, while her husband, Zachary Ervin, was still at the hospital Tuesday. He was in fair condition, said Beth Hardy, spokeswoman for the medical center.

Chilling call for help

Police released Tuesday the audio of the call that Yvonne Ervin made Saturday morning to 911. On it, she sounds groggy and distraught as she says, "Please send someone to my house. My children are trying to kill me."

Yvonne Ervin called 911 and reported that she and husband Zachary were being attacked by their own sons.

 

Asked what she means, Yvonne Ervin says that 17-year-old Cameron and 22-year-old Christopher drugged her and their father's food with the antidepressant Xanax before attempting to kill them.

"That's why we were so sleepy. We didn't understand why we were so sleepy, but that's why," she says.

"How you know it was Xanax?" the dispatcher asks.

"Because that's what they said after they started attacking us. That's what they said," she says before pausing then pleading, "Please, please hurry, please."

As she speaks from her upstairs bedroom, she explains that her husband distracted Cameron and Christopher, allowing her to call 911. 

"They're trying to strangle us and shoot us and they put Xanax in our food and they thought we would sleep. They tried to attack us. 

They beat me up. They beat him up. They're trying to kill us. Please, please, please hurry," she says, explaining that her husband was in the garage blowing a car horn in hopes of garnering the neighbors' attention. 

She continues, "He was able to get away from them. He's just trying to do what he can to get attention to the house. But please, they strangled me and beat me."

The sons had their father's shotgun, she explains, and she doesn't know where her pistol is.

"Someone may have taken it, and they have his shotgun, so I don't know if they're going to plan on shooting him or not, but please, please hurry," she says.

Gwinnett County Police booking photos of brothers Cameron, 17, left, and Christopher Ervin, 22, arrested and charged with aggravated assault and arson in an alleged attack against their parents Yvonne and Zachary Ervin.

 

Asked a motive for her sons' behavior, she says she can't think of one. Perhaps they want insurance money, she guesses. 

As the dispatcher again urges Yvonne Ervin to lock her bedroom door -- the mother had previously expressed doubt it would deter her sons -- her voice grows panicked as she hears her sons coming upstairs.CONTINUE READING