Psycho murders family of campers
A nine-year-old boy’s entire family has been senselessly murdered after a gunman massacred his parents and sister in a horrific murdersuicide during a family camping trip in Iowa, officials said.
Tyler Schmidt, 42, his wife, Sarah, 42, and their daughter, Lula, 6, were found dead in their tents at the Maquoketa Caves State Park Campground, roughly 290km east of Des Moines, according to the Iowa Department of Public Safety.
The suspected killer, Anthony Sherwin, 23, was found dead in a wooded area of the park, the New York Post said.
The motive of the senseless slaying remains unknown.
“We don’t know what led up to this, what precipitated it,” Department of Public Safety division of criminal investigation assistant director Mitch Mortvedt said. “The investigation has not revealed any interaction between the Schmidt family and Sherwin.”
Sarah Schmidt’s brother, Adam Morehouse, said he believed the killings were “completely random”.
The surviving boy, Arlo, 9, was safe according to a Facebook post from the Cedar Falls Mayor and neighbour to the Schmidts, Rob Greenvon.
“He is with family and he is OK, but I have not had any interaction with him,” Mr Morehouse said. “As far as I know, he was uninjured physically.”
Law enforcement responded to reports of the shooting at the campground before 6.30am on Friday (local time), Iowa officials said. The park was immediately evacuated, and all campers were accounted for except for Sherwin.
Sherwin, a Nebraska native, was found dead in the woods by law enforcement officers who spotted his body from an aircraft. La Vista police chief Bob Lausten told the Des Moines Register he had no criminal history.
Felicia Coe, 35, of Des Moines, was camping with her boyfriend and his two sons when they were approached by officers in tactical gear who told them to evacuate.
Ms Coe was not sure exactly what had happened, but remembered seeing a young boy in his pyjamas with paramedics. When she later saw a picture of the Schmidt family she recognised the boy as Arlo.
“He was in these super cute little pyjamas,” she told the Associated Press.
“He was just standing there. He wasn’t crying. He wasn’t distraught. But he also wasn’t being comforted. He was just standing there by himself.”