Laela
Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
Alabama Teenager Confesses to Killing 5 Family Members, Authorities Say
The 14-year-old, who has not been identified, called the police to say he had heard gunshots in his house. Later, he admitted that he had fired them, the authorities said.
The killings unnerved Elkmont, a town of about 430 people in northern Alabama. CreditWHNT-TV News, via Associated Press
By Christine Hauser
Sept. 3, 2019Updated 5:14 p.m. ET
The 911 call came in late on Monday. It was from a 14-year-old boy in Elkmont, Ala., with an alarming story of gunfire coming from upstairs in his family’s home.
But on Tuesday the case took a disturbing turn: The boy confessed that he had fired the shots, killing his father, his stepmother and three siblings, the Limestone County Sheriff’s Department said.
The 14-year-old, whose name was not released, helped investigators retrieve the handgun that he said he had used in the shootings before tossing it on the side of a road, the sheriff’s department said.
One adult and two children died at the house, while an adult and the third child died in hospitals, according to the department. Their names were not immediately released.
The authorities have not released a motive. It was not immediately clear who owned the gun or whether other people were in the house at the time of the shooting, which occurred before midnight on Monday.
Mr. West said that he arrived at the scene around 1 a.m. on Tuesday. He said he saw the boy sitting in the front seat of the sheriff’s vehicle, next to Sheriff Mike Blakely. Autopsies on the five victims were being conducted in Huntsville, he said.
Sheriff Blakely did not return calls for comment on Tuesday. A sheriff’s department spokesman, Stephen Young, told local reporters at the scene that deputies had been called to the house by the teenager, who said he was downstairs when he heard shooting upstairs, WAFF-TV reported.
At noon on Tuesday, a few dozen people and leaders from about 10 churches in the area gathered at Elkmont United Methodist Church to pray for the family and the community, said the pastor there, Thom Porter. They read passages from Philippians and Jeremiah, highlighting the verses on trusting in God and praying in times of anxiety. “I think it is a shock to our community to hear this news early this morning,” he said in an interview.
Elkmont High School said on its Facebook page that it would have counselors available on Tuesday. The first day of school for students was on Aug. 5.
Donna Ferrazas, who works at a convenience store in downtown Elkmont, said she had exchanged pleasantries on Monday afternoon with the brother of the father who was shot. The woman who was shot, she said, had been one of her daughter’s teachers.
“We are a small town and we are kind of spread out, but we all know each other,” she said in a telephone interview. “Just from being in a small town, you go past each other every day.”
“Let’s put it this way: I have always described it as a little Norman Rockwell town,” she said. “And this has shook us.”
Kitty Bennett contributed reporting.
The 14-year-old, who has not been identified, called the police to say he had heard gunshots in his house. Later, he admitted that he had fired them, the authorities said.
The killings unnerved Elkmont, a town of about 430 people in northern Alabama. CreditWHNT-TV News, via Associated Press
By Christine Hauser
Sept. 3, 2019Updated 5:14 p.m. ET
The 911 call came in late on Monday. It was from a 14-year-old boy in Elkmont, Ala., with an alarming story of gunfire coming from upstairs in his family’s home.
But on Tuesday the case took a disturbing turn: The boy confessed that he had fired the shots, killing his father, his stepmother and three siblings, the Limestone County Sheriff’s Department said.
The 14-year-old, whose name was not released, helped investigators retrieve the handgun that he said he had used in the shootings before tossing it on the side of a road, the sheriff’s department said.
One adult and two children died at the house, while an adult and the third child died in hospitals, according to the department. Their names were not immediately released.
The authorities have not released a motive. It was not immediately clear who owned the gun or whether other people were in the house at the time of the shooting, which occurred before midnight on Monday.
Mr. West said that he arrived at the scene around 1 a.m. on Tuesday. He said he saw the boy sitting in the front seat of the sheriff’s vehicle, next to Sheriff Mike Blakely. Autopsies on the five victims were being conducted in Huntsville, he said.
Sheriff Blakely did not return calls for comment on Tuesday. A sheriff’s department spokesman, Stephen Young, told local reporters at the scene that deputies had been called to the house by the teenager, who said he was downstairs when he heard shooting upstairs, WAFF-TV reported.
At noon on Tuesday, a few dozen people and leaders from about 10 churches in the area gathered at Elkmont United Methodist Church to pray for the family and the community, said the pastor there, Thom Porter. They read passages from Philippians and Jeremiah, highlighting the verses on trusting in God and praying in times of anxiety. “I think it is a shock to our community to hear this news early this morning,” he said in an interview.
Elkmont High School said on its Facebook page that it would have counselors available on Tuesday. The first day of school for students was on Aug. 5.
Donna Ferrazas, who works at a convenience store in downtown Elkmont, said she had exchanged pleasantries on Monday afternoon with the brother of the father who was shot. The woman who was shot, she said, had been one of her daughter’s teachers.
“We are a small town and we are kind of spread out, but we all know each other,” she said in a telephone interview. “Just from being in a small town, you go past each other every day.”
“Let’s put it this way: I have always described it as a little Norman Rockwell town,” she said. “And this has shook us.”
Kitty Bennett contributed reporting.