A 21-year-old man suspected of killing five people, including his parents, his girlfriend and her father and little brother, has been arrested in Richmond County, Virginia.
Dakota Theriot will be sent to Ascension Parish in Louisiana, and booked on two counts of first-degree murder, illegal use of weapons, and home invasion.
On Saturday, Ascension Parish officials were called to a trailer in Gonzales where they found Theriot’s parents, Elizabeth and Keith, alive but suffering from gun wounds.
The parents were sent to a hospital in Baton Rouge and died shortly after, but not before they were able to identify Theriot as the suspected shooter, Ascension Parish Sherriff Bobby Webre told USA Today.
“The father was gravely injured at the time we found him and has since passed away,” Mr Webre told a CBS affiliate. But before he passed, the authorities were able to get a “dying declaration from him, and only enough information to let us know that it was his son that committed this act.”
Mr Webre said Theriot lived with his parents, but was told to leave and not return to their home.
Local authorities believe Theriot returned to his parents home after killing three other victims—Billy Ernest, 43, Tanner Ernest, 17 and Summer Ernest, 20—in Livingston Parish, about 30 miles south from his hometown.
Two minors—a 7-year-old and a 1-year-old—were found at the scene and are safe.
Theriot was briefly in a relationship with Summer and had lived with the Ernests for several weeks.
Crystal Ernest-DeYoung, 46, the eldest Ernest’s sister, told USA Today that she believes Theriot only recently started dating Summer.
“They all had very good hearts,” Ms Ernest-DeYoung said. ”They trusted people too much. They all loved unconditionally.”
“We’re all devastated. We don’t know how somebody can be so evil,” Ms Ernest-DeYoung added. “We don’t know how we’re going to get on. We lost three people that are so dear to our hearts.”
