Was San Jac Murder-Suicide Preventable?

HOUSTON - Graveside services were held Friday for two of four people killed in a San Jacinto County murder-suicide.

Shara Torres and her four-year-old daughter Sarah Whitmire were shot to death November 7th by Torres' boyfriend.

Family members say Oliver Bills was bi-polar and had been acting strangely in the hours before the shootings.

Bills also killed his adoptive mother, Gloria Bills, and himself.

The San Jacinto County Sheriff's Department acknowledges its deputies failed to respond to pleas for help in the hours before the shootings.

Sheriff James Walters was unavailable for comment Friday.

But earlier this week, Walters conceded his deputies didn't respond until about seven hours after they received their first phone call about Bills' behavior.

Walters blamed short staffing and other calls for the late response.