According to court filings, a 15-year-old boy is suspected of shooting his parents and three siblings at their Washington state home before falsely claiming that his brother was responsible for the killings.
The 15-year-old, who NBC News will not name due to his age, was charged Thursday with five charges of murder and one count of attempted murder in the slayings that occurred Monday morning in Fall City.
A shooting at a residence in the Lake Alice Road neighborhood of Fall City, roughly 25 miles east of Seattle, left two adults and three children dead soon before 5 a.m. on Monday. The medical examiner’s office identified them as Mark Humiston, 43, Sarah Humiston, 42, and their three children: Katheryn, 7, Joshua, 9, and Benjamin, 13.
An 11-year-old sister who was shot but survived by pretending to be dead escaped through a window and fled to a neighbor’s home, according to an affidavit from a King County sheriff’s detective.
She was treated and then released, according to a representative for Harborview Medical Center in Seattle on Thursday.
The 15-year-old boy was apprehended the day of the shooting and was placed at a juvenile prison facility on Thursday.
The attempted murder charge includes a firearms enhancement, which provides for a harsher penalty if the kid is found guilty, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The 15-year-old called the King County Sheriff’s Office at 4:55 a.m. Monday, claiming that his 13-year-old brother had “just shot my whole family and committed suicide, too,” according to a probable cause statement.
According to Detective Aaron Thompson’s report, the claim is bogus, and the adolescent staged the incident to accuse one of the victims.
The surviving 11-year-old sibling informed police that her 15-year-old brother shot her and her family with their father’s Glock handgun, according to the probable cause statement.
She told investigators that the adolescent shot her and then left the room and that she heard someone shouting “stop” and “help” before fleeing, according to the detective report.
According to the probable cause statement, the surviving sibling informed police that the handgun was kept in a lockbox and that the defendant was the only child who knew the combination.
Amy Parker and Molly Campera, who are representing the 15-year-old, stated Tuesday at his first court appearance that the “law presumes our client is innocent of these charges.” They identified him as “a 15-year-old boy who enjoys mountain biking and fishing and has no criminal history.”
“I would remind everyone that these are not proven facts, merely allegations, and the law presumes our client is innocent of these charges,” the attorneys added.
During Tuesday’s court appearance, the kid waived his right to appear and was ordered not to contact the surviving sibling.
Family members could not immediately be reached for comment.
Prosecutors wanted a hearing Friday to determine whether the case will be handled in juvenile court or as an adult.
Defense counsel filed a motion to safeguard the teen’s privacy, which Judge Kristin Richardson granted, in part by ruling that the young suspect’s name cannot be publicized and that he cannot be recorded from the neck up, according to public defenders.
The prosecuting attorney’s office announced Thursday that some of the counts were filed as crimes of domestic violence.
However, prosecutors amended four charges on Friday to remove domestic violence designations from three aggravated first-degree murder counts involving the suspects’ siblings, as well as the domestic violence designation from an attempted first-degree murder charge, because state law prevents those charges from proceeding, officials said.
A neighbor told NBC affiliate KING of Seattle that the couple home-schooled their children, who were well-known and involved in the neighborhood.
Mark Humiston was shot four times, while his mother received two bullet wounds, according to the probable cause statement. Three youngsters were also shot.
The evidence looked to demonstrate that the suspect “systematically murdered his mother, father, two brothers, and sister, and attempted to murder his other sister,” Thompson, the sheriff’s detective, said in the probable cause statement.
The suspect “then staged the scene prior to the arrival of first responders” to give the impression that the 13-year-old victim committed the murders and died by suicide, according to the detective.
Sarah Perry, a King County Council member, described the incident as “a terrible situation.”
“My heart aches for the lives lost and all who are struggling to make sense of this loss right now,” she wrote on Facebook this week.
The teen’s father worked as an electrical engineer for Hargis Engineers, the business stated.
“We are blindsided and saddened by the tragic events that have led to the loss of a respected colleague, mentor, and friend, as well as the loss of immediate family members,” according to a statement from the organization. “Mark’s leadership and vision were critical to our firm, and he will be dearly missed. We are thinking of his surviving family, friends, and colleagues during this terrible time.”
Source: 15-year-old accused of killing his parents and 3 siblings in their Washington state home
