By Michael Chukwuebuka, Reporting
A man who, according to authorities, was said to be suffering from mental illness reportedly shot his wife and three children dead, before killing himself inside his home in High Point, North Carolina.
Robert J. Crayton, 45, opened fire on his wife, Athalia A. Crayton, 46; his 18-year-old daughter, Kasin Crayton and two other children, 16 and 10-year-old, on Saturday morning, 7th of January.
Reacting to the incident, High Point Police Department chief, Travis Stroud lamented:
“In my 27, pushing 28 years in this police department, we’ve never had anything like this happen before.
“Clearly an impact case for us as a police department and as a city”.
Chief Travis Stroud also described the crime scene as a gruesome and disturbing sight to behold, and that he is worried about his officers.
“We have to monitor our own officers now. This was a heavy-duty crimes scene.
“We have to watch out for our own officers and their own mental health and how they push through the incident,” he said
According to Lt. Patrick Welsh, two other persons, names withheld, were in the house when the incident occurred.
They fled the scene when they saw Robert opening fire on his wife and kids.
“That’s going to be piece of the investigation. I’ve expressed this to the family.
“We may never know why – what goes through the hearts and minds of a person who would do this.
“We don’t have any indication right as to the ‘why’,” Welsh said
Lt. Patrick Welsh also confirmed that Robert was suffering from mental illness.
“He was suffering from some mental illness.
“I can’t speak to the reason under the involuntary commitment, but we do believe it was taken out by the family,” he said
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