Photos of the victims of murder-suicide in North Carolina on Sunday emerged after authorities released the name of the suspect who allegedly killed his family before shooting himself.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, seven people, all from the same family, were found dead in three separate crime scenes in Moncure, an unincorporated area about 30 miles south of Raleigh. Six of the victims appeared to have been shot to death by the seventh, who then turned his gun on himself, the Raleigh News & Observer reported.
The victims have been identified as:
- Jeanie Ray, 67
- Helen Mason, 93
- Ellis Mansfield, 73
- Lisa Mansfield, 54
- John Paul Sanderford, 41
- Nicole Sanderford, 39
- Larry Ray, 66
Chatham County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Sara Pack said Monday that investigators believe Larry Ray shot and killed his wife, Jeanie Ray, at their home on Moncure-Flatwood Road. He then went across the street to her grandmother’s house.
There, Ray allegedly shot and killed Helen Mason and her cousins, Ellis Mansfield and Lisa Mansfield. They were having dinner together when the shooting occurred, ABC11 said.
The 911 call came from the last house in the sequence of shootings — the home of John Paul Sanderford and Nicole Sanderford, who was Jeanie Ray’s niece. Their teenage son, 16, made the call.
“I’m in my closet. I haven’t seen him,” the teen said. “I’m not coming out.”
The dispatcher told the boy to stay quiet while she stayed on the line.
“Please get somebody here to the house…How long is it going to take them to get here?”
Three minutes later, he told the operator the shooter has left.
“Oh my god,” the boy said. “Blood everywhere.”
“My dad is dead.”
“You just keep that door locked and shut until the officer calls out to you and knocks on your door,” the dispatcher says. “You’re doing great, bud; I’m proud of you.”
A few more seconds elapse, and police officers enter the house. “I’m in here!” he called out.
Deputies later found Larry Ray dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after he returned home and shot himself.
Investigators have not uncovered a motive for the shootings that shocked the small, rural community. Surviving family members, however, said Larry Ray had a “hot temper.”
“To lose any family member is devastating, but to lose several at once to unexpected violence is unimaginable,” Sheriff Mike Roberson later said.
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[Feature Photo: ABC11 Video]
*Additional reporting by KC Wildmoon