An Ozark teenager was arrested Sunday morning after he drove to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and said he shot his teenage sister to death, authorities said.
“He came in around 9:30 a.m. this morning saying he needed to speak with someone because he had killed his sister,” Franklin Sheriff Anthony Boen said of the 15-year-old male.
Authorities traveled to the Watalula Road residence and found the teen’s 16-year-old sister shot to death in her bedroom.
“We’re thinking there was possibly several shots involved,” Boen said. “But we won’t know for sure until the body gets back from the (Arkansas State) Crime Laboratory (in Little Rock).”
The teens’ parents had left the residence at around 8 a.m. Sunday to go grocery shopping. The shooting is believed to have occurred sometime between 8 and 9 a.m., according to Boen.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Following the shooting, the teen drove a vehicle owned by his parents to the Sheriff’s Office and admitted to killing his sister, according to Boen.
“We confiscated several weapons from the home and the vehicle,” Boen said. “He was an avid hunter, and his father was an avid hunter, so they had several guns in the home.”
However, Boen said, it is not yet determined which gun the teen used in the shooting.
Also undetermined is what or if anything prompted the shooting.
“He just said he had killed his sister and he needed to speak with someone,” Boen said. “He gave no motive on why he done it. We have no motive at this time.”
The Sheriff’s Office, Boen said, has never received a report of any trouble between the teen and his sister. Investigators have yet to speak with officials at the teen’s school and find out whether the teen had demonstrated any alarming behavior in the past.
The investigating into the shooting death has been turned over to Arkansas State Police. The teen is currently being detained at the Sebastian County Juvenile Detention Center.