According to authorities, Robert J. Crayton Jr., 45, is suspected of starting the shooting in his High Point residence. Two grownups got away.
According to police, a man with a history of mental illness started shooting inside his North Carolina house, murdering his wife, three kids, and then himself.
According to High Point police, Robert J. Crayton Jr., 45, shot and killed Athalia A. Crayton, 46, Kasin Crayton, 18, and two additional kids, ages 16 and 10, early on Saturday morning.
High Point police chief Travis Stroud stated, “In my 27, almost 28, years in this police department, we’ve never had anything like this happen before.” Clearly a case that has an impact on the police department and the city as a whole.
Shortly after 7 a.m., two residents, ages 25 and 22, exited the home and began knocking on neighbors’ doors, pleading for assistance, according to authorities.
According to High Point police Lt. Patrick Welsh, one of those adults was a “immediate relation” and the other was an acquaintance.
About Monday afternoon, there was still no word on the shooting’s purpose.
“That will be considered in the investigation. We may never know why – what goes through a person’s heart and mind to do something occasionally dies with him. I’ve said this to the family “said Welsh. “At this time, we have no clue of the “why”.”
Given how horrific the crime scene was, Stroud expressed concern for his colleagues, saying they might have “seen what you can’t unsee” that day.
“Now, we have to keep an eye on our own police. This was a significant crime scene, “the chief declared. We need to take care of our own officers’ mental health as well as how they handle this occurrence.
According to officials, High Point police officers had already been there five other times since 2014 when the shooting on Saturday took place.
Officials confirmed that the shooter was the subject of an involuntary commitment on January 3, 2022, however authorities are currently investigating that incident.
Three days before to the murder-suicide that occurred in North Carolina on Saturday, authorities in Utah reported that a man had shot seven members of his family before turning the pistol on himself.