A 15-year-old boy in Washington state faces five counts of murder and one count of attempted murder after his parents and three siblings were found shot to death in their family home Monday morning.
An 11-year-old sister was also shot, according to court documents, but survived by playing dead and managed to escape through a window and run to a neighbor’s house, alerting them to the horrific killings.
When police responded to several 911 calls that morning, they found two adults and three children — ages 7, 9 and 13 — dead at the home in Fall City, about 40 kilometers east of Seattle and 260 kilometers from Vancouver, British Columbia.
According to the medical examiner’s office, NBC News reported I identified them They are Mark Humiston, 43, and Sarah Humiston, 42. Their children are Katherine, 7, Joshua, 9, and Benjamin, 13.
The 15-year-old boy, identified by police but a judge ordered the media not to reveal his name, was arrested the same day as the shooting and is now being held in a juvenile detention center.
The King County Sheriff’s Office said the teen made a call to them in the pre-dawn hours Monday, trying to make it happen They falsely pin the shooting on his 13-year-old brotherSaying his brother “just shot my family and committed suicide too,” USA Today reports.
Investigators told reporters on Thursday that based on evidence collected from the crime scene, the suspect shot his parents and siblings before tampering with the scene to try to frame his brother.
“It appears that (the suspect) systematically killed his mother, father, two brothers and sister, and attempted to kill his other sister,” said the arrest affidavit seen by USA Today. “(He) then staged the scene before first responders arrived to make it appear that (his brother) had… He committed murders Then he killed himself.”
Neighbors leave the scene of a deadly shooting Monday morning, October 21, 2024, in Fall City, Washington.
Kevin Clark/The Seattle Times via AP, file
In an interview with investigators, the sister who survived the incident said she woke up startled to the sound of gunshots in the house early Monday morning and found one of her brothers and her father lying in the hallway. She said she then saw her sister get shot.
The suspect then entered her room and shot her, the police investigator wrote in the probable cause statement. She said she closed her eyes and tried not to breathe, and listened when she heard someone else yell “stop” and “help.”
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Shortly after, she escaped through her bedroom window and took refuge in the safety of a neighbour’s home.
The surviving sister told investigators she identified the weapon used by the suspect as a Glock that her father kept in a safe next to the main door of the house, and which her father sometimes took to work. She said that the suspect was the only one among the children who knew this combination.
When investigators asked her about problems the suspect was having at home, she told them that he had recently been in “a lot of trouble” for failing some tests at school.
According to NBC, in the 15-year-old’s first court appearance, his lawyers described him as a “boy He enjoys mountain biking and fishing He has no criminal history.”
Bouquets of flowers line a stone picnic table in a roadside park as a small memorial to the victims of the previous day’s mass shooting in Fall City, Washington, Tuesday, October 22, 2024.
Jennifer Buchanan/The Seattle Times via AP
Amy Parker and Molly Cambera said: “I would like to remind everyone that these are not proven facts, but rather just allegations, and the law presumes that our client is innocent of these charges.”
King City Councilwoman Sarah Perry wrote on Facebook asking the community to do just that Gathering around family And ask for support if necessary.
“At this time, I ask that you join me in holding the entire family, members of the Lake Alice and Fall City community, as well as all those affected by this terrible situation, in your hearts in prayers of peace and healing.” books.
if Found guiltyThe authorities said, according to the New York Times, that the suspect may be sentenced in juvenile court to life imprisonment, with the assumption that he will be released after 25 years. However, if prosecutors request that the boy be tried in adult court and that is accepted by the judge, a guilty verdict could result in a life sentence without the assumption of his release.
&Copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
