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‘Please Don’t Kill Me,’ Teen Says He Begged His Older Brother During Alleged Family Massacre
After gunfire erupted in the Indianapolis home of Raymond Childs Jr., and his family, the 42-year-old father told his 17-year-old son, the suspected gunman, "I love you," before being fatally shot, his younger son told authorities.
Just moments before Raymond Childs Jr. was killed, allegedly by his own 17-year-old son, he uttered the words “I love you,” according to an affidavit released in the case.
The teen is accused of killing his father and stepmother, Raymond Jr. and Kezzie Childs; two siblings, Elijah Childs and Rita Childs; and his brother Elijah’s pregnant girlfriend Kiara Hawkins in the early morning hours Sunday after he was seemingly upset about getting reprimanded for being out of their Indianapolis house without permission.
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears announced Thursday that the teenager has been charged as an adult with six counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and carrying a handgun without a license in connection with the slayings.
“Our community has suffered another trauma with the tragic loss of this family. Gun violence continues to take and damage too many lives,” Mears said in a statement. “Our task now is to bring these allegations before the Court. We intend to seek justice for the victims, and to do so in a way that respects the process and all of the circumstances present in this case.”
The prosecutor’s office also released an affidavit in the case that reveals new details about the massacre.
The case began around 3:43 a.m. Sunday morning after Indianapolis Metropolitan Police received a call about a shooting and arrived at the scene to find a 15-year-old victim on the porch of a residence suffering from “multiple gunshot wounds,” according to the affidavit obtained by Oxygen.com.
The residents of the home had called 911 after hearing a series of gunshots. The teen was rushed to the hospital in “critical condition” but was able to identify his older brother as the alleged shooter before going into surgery. The teen told police his sibling shot him and had also gunned down his parents.
“He shot them,” he allegedly said, according to the court documents. “I think they’re dead.”
Officers were dispatched to the family’s home in the 3500 block of Adams Street and made a grisly discovery, finding the bodies of not only Raymond and Kezzie Childs, but also three other victims.
Elijah, 18, was found on a bed in a bedroom at the end of a hallway in the brick home. His pregnant girlfriend, Kiara Hawkins—who the 15-year-old victim had told authorities was “supposed to be having a baby next week”—was also found laying on the bed and quickly transported to Eskenazi Hospital.
“Despite efforts to save Kiara Hawkins and her unborn child, both were declared deceased at the hospital,” the affidavit said.
An autopsy would later reveal that both Elijah Childs and Hawkins died from single gunshot wounds to the head.
Rita Childs, 13, was found in a second bedroom next to a bed. She died from a single gunshot wound to the chest, according to the affidavit.
In the basement of the home, police officers discovered the bodies of Raymond Jr., 42, and Kezzie, 42. Both had been killed by “multiple gunshot wounds to the torso.”
The 15-year-old surviving victim would later tell police after emerging from surgery that he had been filling a bottle with water in the bathroom when he heard two shots and his father say “What was that?,” according to the affidavit.
Rita shouted that her 17-year-old brother had “shot Elijah,” and then another gunshot went off.
The 15-year-old boy told police he heard his father tell his son, “I am sorry” and “I love you,” before another round of gunshots.
The 15-year-old, who was hiding in the laundry room, ran out of the house through a side door and tried to flee, but he told authorities that his older brother followed him carrying a Draco gun, the affidavit said.
The teen told police he stopped and turned around to try to plead with his brother, telling him “Here bro, I can give you this $40, I won’t say nothing, please don’t kill me.”
But his older brother allegedly began to fire anyway, striking him in the leg and arm, before he was able to find help at a neighbor’s home.
“He tried to shoot me in the head, but missed, I guess,” the teen told police, according to the affidavit.
Inside the family’s home, detectives would later find spent 9mm shell casings and spent 7.62mm cartridge casings.
The 17-year-old suspect’s girlfriend later told police that he had been at her house the night before the shootings and was planning to spend the night, but later left in an Uber after he got a phone call from his dad. He returned to her house sometime between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Sunday driving a white Chrysler she had never seen him drive before and he told her that his dad had kicked him out of the home, the court documents stated.
A short time later, she received an alert on her phone that there had been a shooting on 36th Street and then another notification alerting her to a shooting on Adams street. She asked the teen if he knew anything about the shootings, but he said no, according to the report.
She told police she convinced him to go to the crime scene later that morning after speaking to his other sisters, who were not living at the home. She told police that the teen seemed nervous and started to cry before “acting like a clown” at the scene.
He was taken into custody by police later that day without incident.
During a search of the White Chevy Impala, investigators said they found an AK-style magazine wrapped in clothes on the front passenger side floor board. One of Raymond Jr’s cousins also turned over a Draco firearm that he said he had taken from the teen the same day of the shootings, according to the affidavit.
