A 15-year-old Texas boy murders his mother, father, sister and two dogs before posting graphic photos of their bodies on social media, warning that he would commit a school shooting and then commit suicide when police swooped in.
15-year-old murders mother, father and sister before killing himself
William Quince Colburn III admitted on social media that he had killed his parents and sister before sharing images of his murdered family and threatening to carry out more violence at an unidentified school.
The messages led local police to his mobile home in Aransas Pass, where they tried to convince him to come outside, only for the teenager to shoot himself to death.
Inside they found 63-year-old William Colburn Jr. 63-year-old William Colburn, 53-year-old Jana Colburn, Colburn III and 13-year-old Emma Colburn.
Mahria Batts, who lost her parents and siblings in the shooting, said she learned the sad news the morning of her mother’s birthday.
“This morning, we all woke up excited to tell our mother a happy 53rd birthday,” Batts said on a GoFundMe page.
“Instead, we are devastated with news that has shattered us to our core. As you can imagine, this is difficult for us at this time,” he said.
“This is not something we ever imagined would happen. We were not prepared for a loss, but for our own. We’re hurting. We don’t understand. We’re at a loss. We’re angry.”
Police said that had it not been for the “swift action” of the social network and other teens within the group where the threat was made, “we may well have been working on an even more tragic event this morning.”
San Patricio County Sheriff Oscar Rivera was grateful for the police’s quick action in the case.
“I’m glad we were able to find him before anything worse could happen,” Rivera said.
