Indianapolis boy, 17, who ‘shot dead six members of his family, including pregnant woman and her unborn child’, faces charges of Murder, Intentional Manslaughter
Indianapolis boy, 17, ‘shot dead six members of his family, including pregnant woman and her unborn child, after his father scolded him for leaving house without permission’
Suspect was arrested Monday on initial charges of Murder, Intentional Manslaughter with a handgun and Attempted murder.
He is expected to be charged as an adult
Victims identified as homeowners Kezzie Childs and Raymond Childs Jr, both 42, along with their 18-year-old son Elijah Childs and daughter Rita Childs, 13
Pregnant Kiara Hawkins, 19, was also killed, along with her unborn baby boy who was identified as a grandson of Kezzie and Raymond Childs
Seventh victim, identified as Kezzie and Raymond’s 15-year-old son, survived gunshot wounds to identify the killer – He’s hospitalized in critical condition
15-year-old told cops: ‘They killed my entire family’, identifying his older brother who’d gotten angry after their father reprimanded him for leaving home without permission
Suspected shooter was arrested Monday roughly 25 miles away in Plainfield, but his name has not been released because he is a minor

Police shed more light on the horror shooting at a home on Adams Street in the northeast side of Indianapolis early Sunday morning which almost wiped out a family.
The shooting suspect, a 17-year-old male is a member of the family, accused of shooting dead six family members at their home in Indianapolis allegedly, launched the rampage after his father yelled at him for leaving the house without permission.
Police arrived to find five people with gunshot wounds, including a woman who was eight months pregnant.
The victims were identified as mother Kezzie Childs, 42, father Raymond Childs Jr, 42, their 18-year-old son Elijah and 13-year-old daughter Rita. Kiara Hawkins, 19, was also killed, along with her unborn baby boy.
A seventh victim, who was described as the 15-year-old son of Kezzie and Raymond but was not named, also suffered gunshot wounds. He was hospitalized in critical condition and is expected to survive.

It was that 15-year-old survivor who had called 911 at around 4am Sunday after he was shot and fled down the street, according to a police report obtained by FOX59.
When he arrived at the hospital, the teen pointed officers toward his house and said: ‘They killed my entire family.’ He identified his older brother as the gunman.
The suspect was arrested on Monday roughly 25 miles away in Plainfield, however his name has not been released due to his age.
He is expected to be charged for murder/intentional manslaughter with a handgun and attempted murder in adult court given the severity of the crimes. The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office has until Thursday to file the charges.

Responding IMPD officers responding to a 911 call made by the couple’s surviving son, who was shot and fled from the home. He told investigators that his older brother, who has not been named, was the gunman.
Describing the moments leading up to the shooting, he told detectives that his older sibling had been scolded by his father for leaving the house without permission.
Raymond Childs warned his recalcitrant son that he would be punished later before chaos erupted.
The younger brother told cops said he was downstairs with his parents when they heard gunfire upstairs. His sister shrieked: ‘He shot them,’ and more shots rang out.
The shooter then ‘came downstairs with a draco gun, a handgun that shoots rifle rounds, and started shooting’, the police report states. The survivor said he bolted out of the house with his father followed behind him as the shooter fired multple rounds. It’s believed those shots were the ones neighbors reported hearing.


Officers responding to the 911 call, weren’t sure what they would discover at the house IMPD Assistant Chief Chris Bailey said, even after the teen told officers what happened: ‘Because we had found that young man who has suffered some significant gunshot wounds, and he pointed us in the direction of that Adams Street address, which we had no idea what we would find when we walked in the door there, when the officers walked in the door there,’ Bailey told FOX59.
‘I can’t imagine the horrific nature of what they had to see yesterday.’
Raymond, Kezzie, Elijah and Rita were all pronounced dead at the scene. The expectant teen victim, Kiara Hawkins, was still alive when officers found her. She was transported to a hospital, where both she and her unborn baby boy died despite life-saving measures, police said. Her relationship to the family remains unclear.


The suspect who had left the scene by the time police arrived, was tracked down in Plainfield on Monday. A neighbor told FOX59 that she had tipped officers off to where they could find him.
Media reports indicated that a gun was found in the house, but police have not confirmed the alleged recovery of the suspected murder weapon. Neither has there been confirmation of any evidence linking the suspect to the murders when he was taken into custody.
Police Chief Bailey said: ‘Our detectives and our violent crime unit follow the leads. They follow information that they gather as part of their investigation through a whole host of investigative techniques and methods.
‘We did receive information from the community, from neighbors, from people that were concerned about what happened,’ Bailey said.
The suspect is currently being held at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center.
Announcing the arrest on Monday, IMPD Chief Randal Taylor said: ‘Yesterday, we promised swift justice for this heinous act. Today, we delivered on that promised.
‘While removing the alleged perpetrator of yesterday’s mass murder from our neighborhoods does not bring back the lives senselessly lost, hopefully, it will bring us one step closer to healing as a community’.

A GoFundMe campaign was set up to raise money for a memorial for the Childs family. It does not name Hawkins but identifies her baby as a ‘grandson’ of Kezzie and Raymond.



Neighbors and loved ones gathered at the scene to console each other on Sunday.
In his first press conference on Sunday, Chief Taylor initially said police believed the shooting was a targeted attack carried out by an assailant or assailants. After the arrest he confirmed that the shooter acted alone.
‘What we saw this morning was a different kind of evil,’ Taylor said. ‘What happened this morning, based on the evidence that’s been gathered so far, was mass murder.’
Taylor said it was largest mass casualty shooting in the city in more than a decade, and urged the public to contact police and pass along any information they might have on the killings.
Leave a Reply