Family members of Tonya Sims thought she had gotten herself out of a long relationship marked by domestic violence.

She hadn't, and police said it cost Ms. Sims her life Saturday.

"She came to her mother's house to get away from him. She had left him," her sister, Shelia Chapman, said. "Then for him to come here and do that to her, it's just wrong. She tried to leave."

Ms. Sims, 33, was found dead early Saturday in the front yard of her Wrightsboro Road home, shot multiple times. The body of her estranged common-law husband, Johnnie Lee Lewis, 33, of Hale Street, was also found on the front yard, with a gunshot wound to the head.

Authorities are calling the shootings a murder-suicide. It is the second such incident this year.

According to the Richmond County Sheriff's Office, officers were called to a double shooting in the 1400 block of Wrightsboro Road about 2 a.m. and found the bodies in the front yard of the duplex.

Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Richmond County Chief Deputy Coroner Mark Bowen said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab will conduct an autopsy.

According to the sheriff's office, Mr. Lewis took a cab to Ms. Sims' home. The two argued and it became physical. Mr. Lewis drew a handgun and shot Ms. Sims and then himself.

Mr. Lewis and Ms. Sims had been together 17 years and have six children, investigators said. The children range in ages from 5 to 16, said Barbara Ann Gresham, Ms. Sims' aunt. One of the children saw the shooting, she added.

The couple had a history of domestic violence complaints.

Mr. Lewis had been arrested five times since 1997 for assaults on Ms. Sims. Ms. Sims was arrested once in 2004 for stabbing Mr. Lewis in the shoulder.

Despite what was going on, Ms. Sims would never let it show, Ms. Gresham said.

"She kept you laughing. She always had a smile on her face," she said of her niece.

Ms. Sim's eldest daughter, Shantoria Sims, 16, said she was still in shock over her mother's death.

"I'm her first child, and I know she was just a nice person," she said with tears in her eyes. "She just didn't deserve this."

The six children will be split up between Ms. Sims' two sisters and two brothers, said her sister Carolyn Chapman. The family has decided to raise her children, but have concerns about how they will take care of Ms. Sims' funeral.

"My sister didn't have any insurance, so we don't know what we're going to do," Ms. Chapman said. "We're still sorting it out, but we'll make it."

Staff writer Stephanie Toone contributed to this article.

Reach Nikasha Dicks at (706) 823-3336 or nikasha.dicks@augustachronicle.com.