A\u00a0man with a\u00a0history of mental illness opened fire inside his North Carolina home, killing his wife and three children before and then himself, police said Monday.
\nRobert J. Crayton Jr., 45, fatally shot Athalia A. Crayton, 46, Kasin Crayton, 18, and two other children, who were 16 and 10, on Saturday morning,\u00a0High Point police said.
\n“In my 27, pushing 28, years in this police department, we’ve never had anything like this happen before,” High Point police chief Travis Stroud said. “Clearly an impact case for us as a police department (and) as a city.”
\nTwo people, 25 and 22, who were in the house fled shortly after 7 a.m. and started banging on neighbors\u2019 doors pleading for help, police said.
\nOne of those adults was a \u201cdirect relation, and the other was an acquaintance,\u201d High Point police Lt. Patrick Welsh said.
\nThe motive for the shooting was unclear Monday afternoon.
\n“That’s going to be a piece of the investigation. I’ve expressed this to the family, we may never know why \u2014\u00a0what goes through the hearts and minds of a person who would do this sometimes dies with him,” Welsh said. “We don’t have any indication right as to the ‘why.’ ”
\nThe crime scene was particularly gruesome, and Stroud said he worries about his officers who that day could “see what you can’t unsee.”
\nWe have to monitor our own officers now. This was a heavy-duty crimes scene,” the chief said. “We have to watch out for our own officers and their own mental health and how they push through this incident.”
\nHigh Point police officers had responded to the address of Saturday’s shooting five other times since 2014, officials said.
\nThe shooter was the target of a Jan. 3, 2022, involuntary commitment, officials said, though police are still seeking more information about that case.
\n“He was suffering from some mental illness,” Welsh said. “I can’t speak to the reason under the involuntary commitment. But we do believe it was taken out by the family.”
\nSaturday’s\u00a0murder-suicide in North Carolina came three days after authorities said a Utah man\u00a0gunned down seven members of his family before killing himself.<\/p>\n