An Alabama man fatally shot four young children and his wife on Thursday night at a rural home in the central part of the state, police said.
Brandon Kendrick, 32, was arrested and charged with five counts of capital murder in Bibb County.
The victims were identified as his 24-year-old wife, Kelsey Kendrick, a 9-year-old, two 6-year-olds and a 2-year-old, according to authorities.
Brandon Kendrick was the father of two of the children, while the other two were other relatives.
Kendrick killed all five victims with gunshots to the head, authorities said, calling it “a horrific scene that even seasoned officers [said was] the worst thing they’ve ever seen.”
Cops arrived on the scene near West Blocton, about 35 miles southwest of Birmingham, around 10 p.m. Thursday after receiving a report of a child being shot.
“As officers are going, they are saying there are more children that have been shot,” Bibb County Sheriff Jody Wade said.
Kendrick was arrested at the home without a struggle. Investigators did not publicly speculate on any motive for the killings, and Kendrick did not provide any, according to Wade.
“It’s absolutely horrible,” Wade said. “It’s unimaginable what the family is going through, what the friends of the family are experiencing, what the community is feeling right now.”
While it is distressingly common in the U.S. for a male head of household to fatally shoot his entire family, the attackers often die by suicide after their crimes, rather than be arrested as Kendrick was.
