A 17-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting his father, stepmother, two teenage relatives and a 19-year-old pregnant woman at the family home in Indianapolis was charged with six counts of murder in connection with the murders, prosecutors announced Thursday. market .
Raymond Ronald Lee Childs III, who was arrested on Monday, was charged as an adult on six counts of murder, including one count for the death of a woman’s unborn child, Marion County District Attorney Ryan Mears announced in a press conference. The baby was due in a week, Mears said.
Childs also faces a charge of attempted murder for wounding another relative, a young man who was the sole survivor of Sunday’s shooting at the family home in Indianapolis, near the northeast, officials said. He was also charged with possession of a weapon without a license.
Raymond Ronald Lee Childs III (IMPD)
Indiana state law specifies that any individual at least 16 years of age will be charged as an adult if he is accused of committing certain crimes, including murder and attempted murder.
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Mears said that before the shootings, Raymond Childs III had a fight with his father, Raymond Childs, 42. “It certainly looks like there was an argument between father and son at the residence,” said Mears, adding that the police are still investigating the nature of this dispute.
The oldest Raymond Childs, his wife Kezzie Childs, 42, and two other relatives – Elijah Childs, 18, and Rita Childs, 13 – were pronounced dead along with Kiara Hawkins, 19, after being found at the Marion County home. coroner’s office said.
January 25, 2021; Indianapolis, IN, USA; The house on Adams Street in Indianapolis on Monday, January 25, 2021, where the day before a shooting left five people and an unborn child dead. Mandatory credit: Mykal McEldowney-USA TODAY
(Mykal McEldowney-USA TODAY)
Police received a report of a person shot shortly before 4 am Sunday in Indianapolis, according to a press release from the Indianapolis Metro Police Department (IMPD). The police arrived to find a young male – the suspect’s brother – near the house with what appeared to be gunshot wounds, according to police and the report.
“They killed my family,” he said, according to local affiliate FOX 59.
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The surviving teenage victim later told investigators that the suspect, his brother, was in trouble with his father, who was scolding him for going somewhere without asking his parents first, according to the report.
The young victim, when discovered by the police on Sunday, pointed policemen into the house, where they found five people who had been shot and killed.
Respondents took Kiara Hawkins to a local hospital, but neither she nor “Baby Boy Hawkins” could be saved, the police and the report said. Mears said Hawkins was in a relationship with someone who lived in the house.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department worked at the scene on Sunday, January 24, 2021 in Indianapolis, where five people, including a pregnant woman, were shot dead Sunday morning inside a home in Indianapolis. (Justin L. Mack / The Indianapolis Star via AP)
The boy the police found outside was also taken to the hospital, where he is expected to survive. He reportedly told detectives he was downstairs with his parents when they heard gunshots, followed by his sister shouting, “He shot them,” according to FOX 59. More shots were fired after that.
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The suspect then “came down the stairs with a draco gun, a pistol that fires rifle shots, and started shooting,” according to the report.
When the boy ran out of the house, his brother allegedly chased him and fired more shots.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.