Police: 14-Year-Old Shoots Mom & Brother, Tries To Pin Murders On Dad
NEW STANTON, Pa. (KDKA/AP) - A 14-year-old Westmoreland County boy is charged as an adult with fatally shooting his mother and younger brother while they slept.
State police say Jacob Remaley told them he shot Dana Remaley and Caleb Remaley, a third-grader, early Wednesday after his father, David, went to work.
According to state police, Jacob woke up in the morning, retrieved his father's gun from the kitchen and loaded it. He proceeded to enter his mother's bedroom and shot her in the head from close range. He then entered his brother's bedroom and also shot him in the head from close range.
After the shootings, he called 911 and attempted to claim his father was responsible.
According to the criminal complaint, Jacob told 911 operators, "Why didn't he kill me? I need help." He hung up the phone, but 911 operators called back and put him in touch with Mutual Aid. At that time, he said he didn't know why his father had put a gun in his bed.
When Mutual Aid arrived at the home around 7 a.m., Jacob told them about the firearm inside. Due to safety concerns, Mutual Aid left the home and went down the street to set up a staging area and to await the arrival of police.
Prior to police arriving, Jacob went back into the home, retrieved the gun and started walking down the road. A neighbor saw him, began speaking with him and asked him several times to drop the gun.
Eventually, Jacob walked into the neighbor's yard and threw the gun into an adjacent yard. He also told the neighbor that he found the gun in his bed.
According to the criminal complaint, Jacob also contemplated committing suicide while speaking with the neighbor.
A motive has yet to be determined, but police said Jacob did not get along with his parents.
"The only real conclusion we could draw from some of our investigation was that he had a difference with his parents - when it came to maybe not getting along with them that well. His brother, it's very difficult to actually have an answer for why. I really don't specifically have an answer for why. It doesn't seem like there was any type of [tumultuous] relationship between he and his brother. If anything, it was actually fairly good for people that are six years apart as siblings," Trooper Stephen Limani said.
Jacob also allegedly told police he would have shot his father, too, had he been home.
Caleb attended school in the Hempfield Area School District and his mother worked as a personal care assistant in the same district. They provided grief counselors Thursday to help students and staff to cope with the loss.
Online court records don't list an attorney for Remaley, and say he was still awaiting arraignment on two counts each of criminal homicide and first-degree murder.
Jacob is currently undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.
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