A 15-year-old boy was charged with murder on Thursday at the shootings of his parents and three of his siblings at a home in Fall City, Washington, according to court documents obtained by CBS News.
The teenager, whose name is being withheld because he is a juvenile, was charged with five counts of aggravated murder in the killings of his parents, Mark and Sarah Humiston, two brothers, ages 9 and 13, and his 7-year-old sister. , according to King County court records.
He was also charged with attempted murder for shooting and wounding his 11-year-old sister, the documents read.
That girl was in “satisfactory condition” at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
Autopsies conducted by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that all five victims died of gunshot wounds. The gun used in the shooting reportedly belonged to the victim’s father, court records show.
According to charging documents, the suspect called 911 just before 5 a.m. Monday with a false story claiming that his 13-year-old brother “just shot my whole family and also committed suicide” at the family’s home in Fall City. , a community near Seattle.
However, at about the same time as that call, 911 dispatchers received a second call from a neighbor who lives about a quarter mile away. That neighbor said the suspect’s 11-year-old sister had run to his house and was bleeding from what appeared to be a gunshot wound, the documents said.
The girl said her entire family had been fatally shot and identified her 15-year-old brother as the shooter. The girl told the dispatcher that she had also been shot by her brother and “then described holding her breath and playing dead,” according to the documents. The girl later told investigators she escaped through a bedroom window.
Officers went to Humiston’s home, where they found the suspect in the driveway and took him into custody, court records show. The five victims were found dead in the home.
In a hospital interview with detectives later that day, the suspect’s surviving sister said she identified the firearm used in the shooting as “her father’s silver Glock pistol,” according to court documents.
She said her father kept the gun in a small lock box that “he would sometimes leave near the front door so he could take it to work,” the documents said. She told detectives that the suspect was “the only one who knew the Glock lockbox combination.”
Investigators determined that the suspect “systematically murdered” his parents and siblings and “then staged the scene before the arrival of first responders to make it appear” that the murders had been committed by his 11-year-old brother, the documents read.
Court documents did not speculate on a motive.
The suspect will be arraigned on Friday afternoon. The King County Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release Thursday that the suspect is in custody at the Clark Child and Family Justice Center, a juvenile facility.
The teen is currently charged as a juvenile and prosecutors said a judge will determine whether his case will be “referred to adult court.” However, prosecutors noted that moving the case to adult court does not necessarily mean the suspect will be tried as an adult because under Washington state law, sentencing guidelines for juveniles are different even if they are tried in adult court.
In a statement Tuesday, public defenders representing the suspect said that “our client is a 15-year-old boy who enjoys mountain biking and fishing and has no criminal record.”
