Police say her mother killed three children before shooting herself in North Carolina – WhatsNew2Day

A mother and her three children died in a suicide bombing in North Carolina on Tuesday.

The shooting took place in the early afternoon inside the family’s quiet suburban home in Winston-Salem, and cops flocked to the grisly scene and stayed there all day.

Inside, the cops found the body of 40-year-old Ethal Syretha Steele, as well as those of Sakenlaw Sean Steele Jr., 14, and sisters Sakenia Syretha Steele, 12, and Sakendra Sean Steele, 9.

Cops said Steele’s elder died of a gunshot wound she had, and that her children were also shot dead.

It is believed that she shot and killed the children before turning the gun on herself. Cops were called to the scene at around 11:54 a.m., though it was not clear by whom. An unidentified man was seen crying outside the house later in the afternoon.

“It’s a sad situation,” Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough told bystanders who flocked to the scene of the accident at 3100 Brookhill Drive Tuesday. “That’s all I can tell you.”

Other members of Kimbrough’s force also kept quiet about details of the suspected murders, although some neighbors offered some insights into past behavior from Stills while speaking to local reporters.

An unnamed resident, speaking to Winston Salem Journaldescribed the family as “very reclusive” – ​​the three school-aged children would occasionally go out to play with hers.

Others showed the shock of the sudden deaths in a normally quiet community, with residents describing the dead end the family lives in as safe, even sleepy.

Another neighbor, who asked not to be identified, told the newspaper, “This is a very quiet and peaceful area.”

Angela Tyrrell, speaking to a local Fox affiliate Fox 8expressed similar surprise.

This happened in my neighborhood. You don’t want to see this. You see this on the news, and it’s another neighborhood.

That this is happening here in our region is deeply troubling. It is close to home.

Neighbors did not name the children’s father, who cops on Thursday did not confirm was the one He made the call late in the morning to the cops.

While he was not explicitly seen among the crowd of pedestrians and officers pressing outside the house on Tuesday afternoon, Nawab Yawasun was seen as an unidentified man wept at the scene.

As of 7 p.m. on Tuesday, it remains unclear how the man relates to the incident.

Likewise, it is unknown if Ethal Steele lives with her husband, or if she is still romantically attached to the children’s father.

Police did not confirm on Tuesday that the siblings share the same father.

They are still investigating what led up to the apparent murders, which may have occurred sometime in the morning, but could have possibly happened earlier.

Members of the Winston-Salem Police Department Criminal Investigation Division handling the case did not clarify whether the caller who alerted them to the shooting heard gunshots.

Neighbors who were questioned added that they had not seen or heard anything out of the ordinary in the early morning hours, fueling speculation that the murders could have been carried out the night before or even earlier.

The policemen were not seen removing the bodies from the house, and it is likely that they are still mopping up the place. Their investigation is still ongoing, with the case likely being treated as a murder-suicide.

When called Tuesday night, officers from the Winston-Salem Department of Investigations said there was currently no threat to the neighborhood, and that they were not looking for any suspects.

They are asking members of the public with any information relevant to the case to contact a crime-stopping hotline, where the family’s bodies are taken to the local coroner.

Child deaths are the 14th, 15th and 16th homicides in a North Carolina city this year,