A North Carolina family visited a sheriff’s office hours before the father murdered his girlfriend and their two young kids, then torched their house and killed himself, authorities say.
According to the Davie County Sheriff JD Hartman, Aschod Ewing-Meeks, 26, shot and killed his girlfriend Ashton Brown, 26, and their two children Bella, 4, and Brixx, 8 months, and then set their house on Junction Road in Davie County on fire and shot himself.
Hours before the tragedy unfolded, the family went to the sheriff’s office in Davie County and Ewing-Meeks requested to speak to a cop.
A receptionist was allegedly given an address that belonged to Brown’s parents.
The family left after just four minutes but cops revealed that Brown dialed 911 just after 12:30 pm local time to speak with an officer about “unspecified safety concerns”, WGHP reported.
Minutes later, there were two calls that lasted 30 and 55 seconds, according to police records.
Then, Ewing-Meeks claimed he thought someone was following him. Subsequent calls went through to the phone’s voicemail.
Hours later, fire crews found the family shot to death at their home. Ewing-Meeks was found dead and cops said he was holding a gun in his hand.
At about 2 pm, a witness claimed to see Ewing-Meeks and Brown argue in front of the couple’s home, but they went inside, authorities said. Minutes later, another witness claimed to see smoke from the home.
First responders said they found the mother and her infant son in the kitchen, with the daughter in a bedroom doorway. Ewing-Meeks, gun in hand, was at the end of the hallway leading to the kitchen, authorities said.
Officials believe Ewing-Meeks shot Brown and their kids before setting their home alight and shooting himself.
Sheriff JD Hartman, of Davie County, said: “It’s definitely been an impact on the community, on the neighborhood. It’s not an area where we have a lot of calls or issues.”
Hartman added: “I’ve seen a lot in 30 years, but children – and especially children that are killed by gunshots and burned – it’s pretty close to the worst, if not the worst.”
Investigators found that the fire had intentionally been started. Officials are investigating the cause of the blaze.
Meanwhile, friends have paid tribute to Brown as they created a GoFundMe page to help cover funeral expenses.
They said: “Ashton lived to be the best mother she could be for her two children, Bella and Brixytn. We are saddened by this sudden tragedy and wish to honor and remember them as such.”
Locals also teamed up to help Brown’s family, with fundraising efforts including t-shirt sales, and a barbecue.
“As a community, we all put ourselves in that situation,” said Nikole Lewis, who said she did not know Brown but organized a fundraiser at the Cooleemee Fire Department on Saturday, according to WGHP. “What if that was us? What if that was our family or one of our loved ones?”
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