Photo: GoFundMe
A mourning Louisiana mom says her “babies died for nothing” after a 21-year-old man allegedly killed her daughter, son and three others in a shooting rampage before he was arrested more than 1,000 miles away in Virginia.
The alleged gunman, Dakota Theriot, is also suspected of murdering his parents. When he was finally stopped outside of a relative’s Virginia home, he was allegedly spotted “with a firearm pointed out of the window,” reports theRichmond County, Virginia, Sheriff’s Office.
The Virginia authorities had been alerted — and Theriot’s grandmother there had gone into hiding — after the murders Saturday morning at two locations in Louisiana, according toThe Advocatenewspaper.
Summer Ernest, 20, her brother Tanner Ernest, 17, and the siblings’ father Billy Ernest, 43, were killed at their home in Walker, at which Theriot had recently been staying. Two children ages 1 and 7 were inside the home but unharmed, authorities said.
Then, 30 miles away in Ascension Parish, Theriot allegedly fatally shot and killed his parents, Elizabeth and Keith Theriot, both 50, inside their trailer.
Theriot allegedly fled to Virginia in Billy Ernest’s 2004 gray-over-silver Dodge pickup, authorities said.
Dakota Theriot.AP/REX/Shutterstock
On aGoFundMepage seeking donations toward funeral expenses, she wrote: “I wasn’t prepared for this … my children taken from me … my prayers and thoughts with every life my children touched … I pray they were a blessing and I thank everyone who was a blessing to them.”
By Monday afternoon that campaign had collected more than $11,000 in pledges toward a $25,000 goal.
Billy Ernest.Facebook
“The fact that the family took him in and this is the end result, it’s kind of jarring for all of us,” said Lori Steele, a spokeswoman for the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office, reportsThe Washington Post.
Initially, the sheriff’s office characterized Summer as the suspect’s girlfriend, but her cousin, Paul Hays Jr., disputed this, telling thePostthe pair had met only a week earlier and the Ernest family was only offering help to someone in need. “To the whole family, he was a stranger,” Hays said.
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Keith, at left, and Elizabeth Theriot.Facebook
The weapon used in both attacks was a handgun, authorities said at the news conference.
It could not be determined if an attorney had been named to represent him.
source: people.com
