Prosecutors in Indianapolis charged a 17-year-old boy with murdering his parents, two siblings, and his brother’s pregnant girlfriend in the family’s home.
Raymond Ronald Lee Childs III, who was arrested Monday, was charged with six counts of murder after Sunday’s shooting spree, which city officials described as “evil” and a “mass murder.”
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said the six charges include a charge for the unborn baby who died in the shooting. The baby was expected to be born in one week.
Childs faces an additional attempted murder charge in the wounding of another brother, who was taken to a hospital on Sunday and was the sole survivor, as well as another count of carrying a handgun without a license.
Police were called to the area around the Childs house around 4 a.m. on Sunday to investigate reports of one shooting victim, a juvenile male. As officers investigated the shooting, they received additional information that led them to a home nearby, where they found five people dead.
Mears said Childs had gotten into a fight with his father, but investigators have not yet been able to determine what the fight was about.
“It certainly appears there was an argument between father and son in the residence,” Mears said.
Kezzie Childs, 42, Raymond Childs, 42, Elijah Childs, 18, Rita Childs, 13, and Kiara Hawkins, 19, were pronounced dead after being found in the home. Officials took Hawkins to the hospital in an attempt to save her and her unborn child, but both she and the unborn child died.
Even though Childs III is a minor, state law stipulates that any individual who is 16 or older will be charged as an adult if accused of some felonies, including murder and attempted murder.
