At ten-thirty Monday night, August 2, 2019, a 911 dispatcher in Limestone County, Alabama received an emergency call from 14-year-old Mason Sisk who said he was in his home's basement from where he heard a gun being fired upstairs. The boy said he lived with his family on the 2500 block of Ridge Road in the town of Elkhart.
When Limestone County sheriff's deputies arrived in Elkhart, a town of 400, Mason Sisk greeted them on the driveway to his house. The officers entered the scene where they found 38-year-old John Sisk and two of his young children shot to death. John Sisk's wife, Mary and a third child were seriously wounded. Mrs. Sisk was airlifted to a hospital in Huntsville where she died shortly after admission. The 35-year-old, originally from New Orleans, had been a special education teacher for Huntsville City Schools. She was not Mason Sisk's biological mother.
The wounded child died at the Children's Hospital in Birmingham.
Mr. Sisk had been an automotive and recreational vehicle repairman. He had been granted custody of Mason in 2011 after the death of the boy's mother. Mr. Sisk had been taking care of Mason for two years before that due to his mother's problems with drugs and alcohol.
After speaking briefly to deputies at the house, the high school freshman admitted he had been the one who had shot his father, his stepmother and his three younger siblings. He said he had used a 9mm handgun.
With the help of the alleged shooter, police officers found the murder weapon alongside the road where the boy had tossed it after the killings. According to the suspect, he had shot his family members at one-fifteen that morning.
After being charged with five counts of murder, the boy was taken to a juvenile detention center. Although charged as a juvenile, prosecutors could later request that Mason Sisk be tried as an adult.
According to the Mason Sisk's cousin, he had been a well-behaved kid until a year earlier when he broke into and vandalized his school. He had also fallen into the habit of burning animals alive.
When Limestone County sheriff's deputies arrived in Elkhart, a town of 400, Mason Sisk greeted them on the driveway to his house. The officers entered the scene where they found 38-year-old John Sisk and two of his young children shot to death. John Sisk's wife, Mary and a third child were seriously wounded. Mrs. Sisk was airlifted to a hospital in Huntsville where she died shortly after admission. The 35-year-old, originally from New Orleans, had been a special education teacher for Huntsville City Schools. She was not Mason Sisk's biological mother.
The wounded child died at the Children's Hospital in Birmingham.
Mr. Sisk had been an automotive and recreational vehicle repairman. He had been granted custody of Mason in 2011 after the death of the boy's mother. Mr. Sisk had been taking care of Mason for two years before that due to his mother's problems with drugs and alcohol.
After speaking briefly to deputies at the house, the high school freshman admitted he had been the one who had shot his father, his stepmother and his three younger siblings. He said he had used a 9mm handgun.
With the help of the alleged shooter, police officers found the murder weapon alongside the road where the boy had tossed it after the killings. According to the suspect, he had shot his family members at one-fifteen that morning.
After being charged with five counts of murder, the boy was taken to a juvenile detention center. Although charged as a juvenile, prosecutors could later request that Mason Sisk be tried as an adult.
According to the Mason Sisk's cousin, he had been a well-behaved kid until a year earlier when he broke into and vandalized his school. He had also fallen into the habit of burning animals alive.
He's "fallen into the habit of burning animals alive." Why does that ring alarm bells with me?
ReplyDeleteI knew this family. I had not seen them in over two years because Mary had taken the 14yo and the older two and was hiding from John who was on drugs again. It was only after John was back in the picture that Mason changed. In the original statements by John's niece, Mason had changed "around a year ago." That would put it at around the time John was involved again. I ate Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner with various members of this family, but always the 14yo, and there was no signs of anything. My father is a psychologist, and also saw nothing. The changes happened in that around 2 year time period where there was upheaval in his life. He did have some issues from his birth mother, whom he had just found out about, and all the drugs she used while pregnant. He had also been threatened with removal of school with his friends and placement elsewhere by his parents.
ReplyDeleteAll of this said, the releasing of the 14yo's name in this way, as he is a juvenile, is questionable.