Alaska teen shoots 3 siblings dead before turning gun on himself when parents were not home
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA: A teenager in Alaska shot and killed his three siblings and was found dead with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, police revealed on Wednesday, July 27.
Alaska State Troopers received a report of shots being fired at a Fairbanks residence on Tuesday afternoon, July 26. Tim DeSpain, a spokesperson for the troopers, said the report came from a neighbor. Responding officers were shocked to find four children dead from apparent gun shot wounds. DeSpain said the children's parents were not home when the shooting took place, and that the deceased children were aged 5, 8, 17, and 15.
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The 15-year-old boy shot his three siblings before turning the gun on himself, DeSpain said, adding that the motive behind the ghastly shooting is currently under investigation. The bodies were subsequently sent to the state medical examiner's office for further examination. Troopers said that there were three other children who were also at home but were not injured. DeSpain said the children who weren't injured were all under the age of 7, and that all of them were siblings.
A 15-year-old boy in Fairbanks, Alaska, shot and killed his three siblings - ages 5, 8 and 17 - before killing himself. Police said the firearm used was a “family gun,” but did not say how it was accessed or whether it was securely stored. #akleg https://t.co/OyyzvfX8jL
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 28, 2022
According to DeSpain, the firearm used was a "family gun but beyond that, it's all still part of the ongoing investigation." DeSpain couldn't confirm if the 15-year-old shooter had had any prior interaction with law enforcement. However, he said the state Office of Children's Services had been notified.
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There has been an alarming rise in reports of apparent murder-suicides across the country of late. MEAWW previously reported how a 10-year-old boy from western Michigan was shot dead by his mother, who later turned the gun on herself. Ethan Anewishki was rushed to Trinity Health Shelby Hospital and then airlifted to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids after his mother shot him at about 6:40 am on Monday, July 25. Deputies found his mother, Melissa Anewishki, 38, dead at the scene in what is now being described as a murder-suicide case. The incident took place in Shelby Township's rural area along Baseline Road. Deputies responded to reports of gunfire in the 2300 block of Baseline Road on Monday evening. According to a family friend, Melissa had been struggling with depression and anxiety.
MEAWW also reported how Mikal Dixon, a 27-year-old man armed with AR-15, broke into a Burlington, Vermont home and fatally shot a young woman named Kayla Noonan, 22, and severely injured another before turning the gun on himself, according to police. The name of the survivor was, however, not disclosed by the Acting Chief of Police, Jon Murad, in a press conference on Monday, July 25. Police only described her as a 22-year-old woman. Murad said that based on records, Dixon was arrested previously for low-level offenses, including retail theft and trespass, offenses that did not prohibit him from purchasing a gun.