15-year-old accused of killing his parents and 3 siblings in their home in Washington state

A 15-year-old boy accused of killing his parents and three brothers at their home in Washington state, he shot them and then called police to falsely claim that his brother committed the murders, according to court documents.

The 15-year-old, whom NBC News is not naming because of his age, was charged Thursday with five counts of murder and one count of attempted murder for the Monday morning slayings in Fall City.

Two adults and three children were found dead shortly before 5 a.m. Monday after a shooting was reported at a home in the Lake Alice Road neighborhood of Fall City, about 25 miles east of Seattle. The medical examiner’s office identified them as Mark Humiston, 43, Sarah Humiston, 42, and their children Katheryn, 7, Joshua, 9, and Benjamin, 13.

An 11-year-old sister who was shot but survived by playing dead managed to escape through a window and go to a neighbor’s house, a King County sheriff’s detective wrote in an affidavit.

She was hospitalized and released, a spokesperson for Harborview Medical Center in Seattle said Thursday.

The 15-year-old was arrested the day of the shooting and was being held in a juvenile detention center Thursday.

The attempted murder charge has a firearms enhancement, allowing for a longer sentence if the teen is convicted, prosecutors said.

Around 4:55 a.m. Monday, the 15-year-old called the King County Sheriff’s Office and claimed that his 13-year-old brother “had just shot my entire family and had also committed suicide,” wrote a sheriff’s detective in a probable cause statement.

Investigators say the claim is false and that the teen staged the scene to blame one of the victims, Detective Aaron Thompson wrote in the document.

The surviving 11-year-old sister told police that her 15-year-old brother shot her and her family with a Glock pistol that belonged to their father, according to the probable cause statement.

She told investigators that the teen shot her and then left the room and that she heard someone yelling “stop” and “help” before running away, the detective wrote.

The surviving brother told investigators that the gun was locked in a safe and that the suspect was the only one of the children who knew the combination, according to the probable cause statement.

Amy Parker and Molly Campera, who represent the 15-year-old, said in his first court appearance Tuesday that “the law presumes our client is innocent of these charges.” They called him “a 15-year-old boy who enjoys mountain biking and fishing and has no criminal record.”

“I would remind everyone that these are not proven facts, but merely accusations, and the law presumes that our client is innocent of these charges,” they said.

During a court appearance Tuesday, the teen waived his right to appear and was ordered to have no contact with his surviving brother.

Family members could not immediately be reached for comment.

At a court hearing Friday, prosecutors requested a hearing to determine whether the case remains in juvenile court or if the suspect will be treated as an adult.

Defense attorneys filed a motion aimed at protecting the teen’s privacy, and Judge Kristin Richardson granted it, in part, ruling that the juvenile suspect’s name cannot be published and he cannot be filmed from the neck up, public defenders said. .

Some of the charges had been filed with the designation of acts of domestic violence, prosecutors said Thursday.

But prosecutors on Friday amended four charges to remove domestic violence designations for three aggravated first-degree murder charges involving the suspects’ siblings and the domestic violence designation on the attempted first-degree murder charge because the State law prohibits those charges from moving forward, officials said.

A neighbor told NBC affiliate KING of Seattle that the couple homeschooled their children and that the children were well-known and active in the community.

Mark Humiston was shot four times and the mother received two gunshot wounds, according to the probable cause statement. The three children were also shot.

The evidence appeared to show that the suspect “systematically murdered his mother, his father, two brothers and his sister, and attempted to murder his other sister,” said Thompson, the sheriff’s detective. he wrote in the probable cause statement.

The suspect “then staged the scene prior to the arrival of first responders” to make it appear that the 13-year-old victim committed the murders and committed suicide, the detective wrote.

King County Council member Sarah Perry called the shooting “a terrible situation.”

“My heart aches for the lives lost and for everyone who is struggling to make sense of this loss right now,” she said. said on facebook this week.

The teen’s father worked as an electrical engineer for Hargis Engineers, the company said.

“We are shocked and saddened by the tragic events that have resulted in the loss of a respected colleague, mentor and friend, as well as the loss of immediate family members,” the company said in a statement. “Mark’s leadership and vision were an integral part of our company and he will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with his surviving family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time.”