Cops: Teen Used Illegal Handgun to Kill 5 Family Members

14-year-old confessed to murders, police say
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 4, 2019 2:08 AM CDT
Cops: Teen Confessed to Killing 5 Family Members
Authorities work at the scene of a shooting, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019, in Elkmont, Ala.   (Dan Busey/The Decatur Daily via AP)

A 14-year-old boy accused of killing five members of his family confessed to the crime after being confronted with "some of the inconsistencies" in his story, police in Alabama say. The Limestone County Sheriff's Office says the boy is accused of killing his father, 38-year-old John Sisk, his 35-year-old stepmother Mary Sisk, a 6-month-old boy, a 5-year-old girl, and a 6-year-old boy, AL.com reports. The sheriff's office says the children were the teen's stepsiblings. Mary Sisk was a special education teacher and John Sisk was a vehicle repairman. Sheriff's spokesman Stephen Young says the teen, a freshman at Elkmont High School, is being held in a juvenile detention facility on murder charges, reports the AP. He says the teen could face adult charges, including capital murder, although the Supreme Court banned execution of people under 16 at the time of their crimes in a 1988 decision.

Young says the teen called 911 around 11pm Monday and told them he had run out of the basement of his home in the small town of Elkmont after hearing gunshots upstairs. Young says the teen confessed to the killings during questioning and showed officers where he had dumped a 9mm handgun. Young says the weapon was in the home illegally. Police have not disclosed a possible motive for the killings. "The whole town is just shaken by it," Elkmont Mayor Tracy Compton says. "It is just total shock and disbelief. It's hard to process." According to court documents seen by WAAY 31, John Sisk was granted custody of the boy in 2011 after his biological mother's death. The documents state that Sisk told a court in 2010 that he was the boy's primary caregiver and the child hadn't seen his mother, who struggled with drug and alcohol issues, for two years. (More Alabama stories.)

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