Woman who shot mother, herself outside hospital had tumor that ‘altered her brain,’ coroner says

PICAYUNE, Miss. (WLOX/Gray News) - A woman who shot her mother then herself outside a Mississippi hospital was suffering from a cancerous tumor that "altered her brain," according to the coroner.

Pearl River County Coroner Derek Turnage spoke out about the murder-suicide after reading inaccurate and speculative comments on social media.

"It's a tragedy," he told WLOX .

Police say 61-year-old Helena Malone shot and killed her mother, 79-year-old Helen Plaisance, just before 3 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot outside the emergency room at Highland Community Hospital in Picayune. Malone then turned the gun on herself, according to police.

Despite quick efforts by hospital medical staff, both women died. No one else was injured in the incident.

Why Plaisance drove her daughter to the hospital is unclear, but Turnage says Malone stopped cancer treatment in June, according to family. Since then, the coroner says family members noticed a change in Malone's demeanor.

Turnage says Malone's untreated cancerous tumor progressed and is likely the root cause of the violence on Thursday.

"This all stems from a medical condition, and for whatever reason, it affected her brain. I feel certain that that's what this was. Cancer is a terrible disease," Turnage said.

Plaisance also suffered from a medical condition that required constant care, so the mother and daughter were each other's caregivers.

"It was a very difficult struggle for them," Turnage said.

Turnage says it is the coroner's job to investigate deaths of public interest, and since this tragedy unfolded in a public area, it was important that the public have accurate information.