A 15-year-old boy killed his family and two dogs, then posted disturbing images of their bodies on social media before committing suicide when police arrived.
The teen has been identified as William Quince Colburn III, according to Aransas Pass police and the San Patricio County sheriff’s office. After murdering his sister and parents, the teen posted graphic images of their bodies on social media and threatened to carry on the violence at school.
After being alerted to the images on social media, police tracked the teen down to a recreational vehicle park in Aransas County, South Texas, on Wednesday night. They asked him to come out of his RV, but he refused. According to the police, they then heard a gunshot.
The Aransas Pass Police Department said in a statement that “entry was made into the RV and immediately discovered the graphic scene shared on social media.” “The male juvenile was also discovered dead from a gunshot wound. Investigators discovered four dead bodies and two dead dogs in total.”
Inside were William Colburn Jr., 63, Jana Colburn, 53, Colburn III, and Emma Colburn, 13 years old.
Mahria Batts, who lost her parents and siblings in the shootings, said she found out about the tragedy on her mother’s birthday.
‘This morning, we all woke up excited to wish our Mother a very happy 53rd birthday,’ Batts wrote on a GoFundMe page.
‘Instead, we were devastated by news that has shattered us to our core.’ Batts stated that she was perplexed by the slayings.
‘As you can imagine, this is difficult for us right now,’ she explained. ‘This is not something we expected to happen.’ We were unprepared for even one loss, let alone ours.
‘We are hurt. We do not understand. We are lost. We are angry.’
“We should be celebrating our Mother’s 53rd Birthday today. Instead, we are having to run around and try to figure out how we are going to lay them all to rest.” She told It, “We are deeply saddened by the events that have unfolded today. Like many in the community, we are hurt, outraged, sad, and most of all, a sense of emptiness,”
Mahira Batts added “While we appreciate and understand so many emotions being shared with us, on behalf of all of my siblings, I ask that you take into consideration that even with the way this all played out, we are still mourning 4 individuals. We ask that you find it in your hearts to please donate, share and to also understand that we are grieving.”
Mahira said her brother got a call from a Judge who told them about the triple murder and suicide.
Police said that if the social media website and other teens in the group where the threat was made had not acted quickly, ‘we could have been working on an even more tragic event later this morning.’
Sheriff Oscar Rivera of San Patricio County said he was grateful that police acted quickly in the case.
‘I’m glad we were able to find him before anything worse happened,’ Rivera said.
Rivera said it was unclear which school the teen was threatening. He stated that the teen was not enrolled in any local schools and that authorities believe he was homeschooled.
‘I don’t know which school he planned to attack, but he had the weapons and ammunition to do so,’ Rivera said. He claimed the teen possessed at least two firearms and a rifle.
