Indiana 17-year-old arrested for mass murder of family of 5 and unborn child after argument about leaving home
A teenager who allegedly shot and killed five relatives and an unborn baby after an altercation with his father has now been charged with mass murder.
Authorities found Kezzie Childs, 42, Raymond Childs, 42, Elijah Childs, 18, Rita Childs, 13, and Kiara Hawkins, 19, and Hawkins' unborn child shot to death at a residence on Adams Street in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Sunday, The Sun reported.
Following a manhunt, the suspect, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested on Monday in the suburb of Plainfield, WRTV reported.
New details emerged Tuesday indicating the 17-year-old suspect had allegedly gotten in trouble for leaving his house without permission. According to a police report obtained by the news station, the teen was reprimanded -- but later opened fire on several members of his own family.
According to Fox News, the alleged killer's younger sibling was critically wounded during the shootout. He later recalled how he was with his parents downstairs when they heard gunshots upstairs and his sister screamed. After firing a couple more shots, the suspect “came down the stairs with a Draco gun, a handgun that shoots rifle rounds, and started shooting," he said.
Four victims were declared dead at the scene, authorities confirmed. The pregnant woman was rushed to Eskenazi Hospital, but she and her unborn child were pronounced dead shortly after.
“Yesterday, we promised swift justice for this heinous act. Today, we delivered on that promise," Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Randal Taylor tweeted on Monday. "While removing the alleged perpetrator of yesterday’s mass murder from our neighborhoods does not bring back the lives senselessly lost, hopefully, it will bring us one step closer to healing as a community.’’
Yesterday, we promised swift justice for this heinous act. Today, we delivered on that promise. https://t.co/dvlY82JNF2
— Chief Randal Taylor (@IMPD_Chief) January 25, 2021
Mayor Joe Hogsett noted on Sunday how the tragic shooting in Indiana's capital had brought "terror to our community."
"This morning the city of Indianapolis was targeted with an act of depravity that has become all too common across the country and will never cease to shock the conscience," Hogsett said in a statement. "This morning, one of more individuals perpetrated an act of evil in our city. What happened this morning was not a simple act of gun violence. What happened this morning was a mass murder," he added.
That said, the shooting was one of several that took place across Indianapolis in a span of fewer than five hours on Sunday. Indiana's largest city recorded a staggering 245 homicides in 2020, per the Indianapolis Star.
Last week, MEAWW reported how a woman shot her own three children as well as her two stepchildren in their West Virginia home and then took her own life. Oreanna Antoinette Myers' husband Brian Bumgarner shared about suffering a "truly dark time" after his wife's tragic murder-suicide where she shot their five children in the head, before burning their bodies in a house fire.
The five children murdered were one-year-old Haiken Jirachi Myers, Arikyle Nova Myers, 3, Kian Myers, 4, Riley James Bumgarner, 6, and Shaun Dawson Bumgarner, 7. The children's bodies were found inside the home and Oreanna's outside.