Maryland Boy, 15, Charged With Killing Family

[Captain Planet!]

http://www6.comcast.net/news/articles/national/2008/02/03/Four.Dead/

Md. Boy, 15, Charged With Killing Family

A crucifix hangs Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008, from the mailbox of a Cockeysville, M...

By KASEY JONES, AP
35 minutes ago //

COCKEYSVILLE, Md. — A 15-year-old boy was charged with murder Sunday in the shooting deaths of his parents and two younger brothers in their suburban Baltimore home.
Nicholas Waggoner Browning was charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of his father, John Browning, 45; his mother Tamara, 44; and his brothers Gregory, 13, and Benjamin, 11. He was charged as an adult.
Browning was arrested at 1:05 a.m. Sunday after he admitted to the killings, Baltimore County Police spokesman Bill Toohey said.
The teen had not been getting along with his father, police said in a news release. On Friday night, he went into the house after other family members were asleep and shot each of them using his father's handgun, which was in the house, police said.
After the slayings, he threw the gun away in bushes near his house, police said. The gun has been recovered, Toohey said.
Browning then spent Friday night and all day Saturday with friends, Toohey said. When the friends took him back to his house at 5 p.m. Saturday, Browning went into the house and came back out to say that his father was dead. He called 911.
Police officers found Browning's father dead in a ground-floor room and the bodies of his mother and brothers in upstairs bedrooms. There was no sign of a confrontation, Toohey said.
Browning was denied bail Sunday morning; bail review was scheduled Monday at District Court in Towson. He was being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center in a special section for juveniles.
Toohey said he didn't know whether Browning had a lawyer.
Even if convicted as an adult of first-degree murder, Browning is too young under state law to face the death penalty.
Two of Nicholas Browning's fellow students drove past the family's house Sunday afternoon. They started to weep when told by reporters that Browning was charged in the slayings.
"It's hard to believe someone could do this," said Brooke Kebaugh, 16.
Liz Lazlawbach, 17, said Browning complained about fighting with his father, but "not about anything violent."
The grounds of the two-story home were neat and neighbor Mike Thomas said the Brownings would even pick up trash along the street.
"These people would do anything in the world for you — just incredible people," Thomas said.
Neighbors called each other throughout the night to discuss the killings, Thomas said.
He said one of his sons had been in Boy Scouts with one of the Brownings' sons and was devastated when he learned of the deaths. Thomas said he recently sold Browning a trailer that Browning planned to use for Boy Scout outings, and it was still parked in the Brownings' driveway Sunday.
John Browning was an attorney and partner at Royston, Mueller, McLean & Reid.
Counselors were to be available Monday to meet with students at Dulaney High, said Charles Herndon, a county school spokesman. He declined to say where Browning's younger brothers went to school.

I don't live too far away from Cockeysville. What is wrong with the people of today!?

 

[Scooter]

His last name was Browning. As good a name as any for killin'.

Shame.

 

[Alex The Great]

R.I.P

 

[Immortalfire]

Damn, he's quite disturbed.


Condolences to the family.

 

[Darthphere]

Damn, he's quite disturbed.


Condolences to the family.

They're dead.

 

[Halloween]

Alot of times, the gunman usually kills himself too so he doesn't spend his entire life in jail or face execution.

 

[Darthphere]

Ok....

 

[Carcharodon]

Alot of times, the gunman usually kills himself too so he doesn't spend his entire life in jail or face execution.

WTF? Has Jourmugand created another account or something?

 

[tzarinna]

another reason not to have babies....

 

[Spade]

Why did he bother tossing the gun in the bushes? They were bound to find it while searching for evidence and get his prints.

 

[tzarinna]

He's 15....

 

[turtlefocker]

Damn, he's quite disturbed.

Condolences to the family.

They're dead.

hahahaha...


Is it sick that I laughed at this.... yea I think it's sick.

 

[squeekness]

Just another reason not to have a gun in the house. It's that much easier for a kid to get to it....

 

[tzarinna]

It's no chore to get a gun.

 

[squeekness]

It might be intimidating to a 15 year old who might not know how to get one. Knowing it was in the house and accessible probably made his decision to kill that much easier. The gun should have had a gun lock on it at least.

 

[Tempest19]

/\ Very true. A gun in the house is easier to lead to these shooting incidents than the teen having to seek out a gun through other means. This goes for everything from random shootings to school shootings and this seemingly Amityville like murder (murdering sleeping family).

 

[tzarinna]

Sounds like this kid has had bad relations with his dad for a long time now. I wouldn't doubt that this was premeditated, not on the whim there just so happens to be a gun in the house.

 

[Tempest19]

He had what he believed was reasonable motives. That's a huge part of it. But, if the gun wasn't in the house he would have hesitated because someone might find out that he got the gun. Now, since the gun was in the house not only did he have the motives- he easily had the means to follow through with it. And no one would become suspicious due to his seeking out a gun. Trust me, if the gun wasn't in the house things may have went down differently. He would be on guard about getting one because that would/might stir suspicion. The fact that the gun was in the house didn't make him kill, it allowed him to kill.

 

[tzarinna]

The way disposed of the gun begs to differ on that "someone might find out".

 

[squeekness]

He had what he believed was reasonable motives. That's a huge part of it. But, if the gun wasn't in the house he would have hesitated because someone might find out that he got the gun. Now, since the gun was in the house not only did he have the motives- he easily had the means to follow through with it. And no one would become suspicious due to his seeking out a gun. Trust me, if the gun wasn't in the house things may have went down differently. He would be on guard about getting one because that would/might stir suspicion. The fact that the gun was in the house didn't make him kill, it allowed him to kill.

Yeah, that's what I was trying to say only you worded it better than I did.

 

[Tempest19]

No Ty, not what I'm getting at. Not that the police would get suspicious. That his victims would. Because if someone became suspicious before he had a chance to use the gun, he wouldn't have been able to continue with his plans as he would have liked. He didn't mind if people were suspicious AFTER the event, just that no one had a clue prior to the murder. Because if people were suspicious prior to the murder that would have fcked up what he wanted to do.

 

[tzarinna]

Doesn't really matter, he's totally ****ed.

 

[squeekness]

Doesn't really matter, he's totally ****ed.

Well, that depends. He automatically gets out of the death penalty, if he even cares. Depending on that state's laws, he could be out at 21.

 

[Tempest19]

Really depends on how you look at it. He did what he wanted to do. Not many care about what happens afterwards- some resort to suicide while others go to jail. Those who commit suicide are afraid of life in jail. Some who do go to jail later regret what they have done and talk to teens who may be troubled to deter them from making the same horrible choice they made.

Wrote an episode concerning school shootings for a virtual series I write and manage. And a large part of writing that episode was trying to get inside of these troubled teens heads and thinking like they think to get it as accurate as possible. And the end does and doesn't really factor in until near the end- a lot already see themselves as "dead" so consequences don't really matter, it's only a choice of do I fear prison or do I not fear prison? Those who don't want to go to prison kill themselves. But, point is- the end is irrelevant more or less. The motive, means and accomplishing the goal are the three key things that factor into what guides these teens. In their minds, if they're already at the point of murder they feel "dead" so consequences mean ****.

And yeah, I know this wasn't a school shooting but several factors are the same: troubled teenager, problems at an environment that pushes them to this point, the motive of 'revenge', it was a build-up to this conclusion and the victim was someone/something they had a problem with.

 

[squeekness]

^^True. Makes ya wonder if they will possibly put him in a hospital instead. Never know.....