According to court filings, a 15-year-old boy who is suspected of killing his parents and three siblings shot them before calling the police to report that one of the victims killed his family before dying himself at their Washington state home.
He was charged on Thursday with five charges of murder and one count of attempted murder in connection with the killings that occurred in Fall City on Monday morning.
After a gunshot was reported at a residence in the Lake Alice Road neighborhood of Fall City, which is roughly 25 miles east of Seattle, two adults and three children, ages seven, nine, and thirteen, were discovered dead just before five in the morning on Monday.
In an affidavit, a King County sheriff’s detective stated that an 11-year-old sister who had been shot but had survived by pretending to be dead had escaped through a window and gone to a neighbor’s house.
According to a representative for Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, she was admitted to the hospital and is already out. The 15-year-old boy, who was detained the day of the shooting, was being held Thursday in a juvenile detention center.
The prosecuting attorney’s office stated that all six criminal offenses were filed with the indication that they were domestic violence. The firearms enhancement on the attempted murder count enables a heavier penalty in the event that the kid is found guilty.
At approximately 4:55 a.m. on Monday, the 15-year-old called the King County Sheriff’s Office and stated that the deceased 13-year-old “just shot my whole family and committed suicide, too,” according to a probable cause statement written by a sheriff’s detective.
Detective Aaron Thompson said in the affidavit that investigators say the claim is untrue and that the adolescent manufactured the scene to place the blame on one of the victims.
The surviving 11-year-old sibling informed police that her 15-year-old brother had used their father’s Glock handgun to shoot her and her family, according to the probable cause statement.
Before she fled, she told authorities that she heard someone yelling “stop” and “help” before the kid shot her and fled the room, the detective wrote.
The 15-year-old’s attorneys, Amy Parker and Molly Campera, stated during his initial court appearance on Tuesday that the “law presumes our client is innocent of these charges.” They referred to him as “a 15-year-old boy with no criminal history who enjoys fishing and mountain biking.”
“I would remind everyone that these are not proven facts, merely allegations, and the law presumes our client is innocent of these charges,” they stated.
The teenager forfeited his right to appear in court on Tuesday and was told not to speak to the surviving sibling. The probable cause statement states that the mother was shot twice and the father was shot four times. The three kids were shot as well.
Thompson, the sheriff’s detective, indicated in the probable cause statement that the suspect “systematically murdered his mother, father, two brothers, and sister, and attempted to murder his other sister,” based on the evidence.
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According to the investigator, the suspect “then staged the scene prior to the arrival of first responders” to give the impression that the 13-year-old victim killed the people and committed suicide.
Sarah Perry, a member of the King County Council, described the shooting as “a terrible situation.” She posted on Facebook this week, saying, “My heart aches for the lives lost and all who are struggling to make sense of this loss right now.”
According to Hargis Engineers, the teen’s father was an electrical engineer.
