A one-year-old baby and a 10-year-old boy were among three people killed in a home massacre in Louisiana.
The two children and a 40-year-old woman were found “stabbed to death” when police responded to “a domestic disturbance call” at a home in Amite around 4:39 p.m. local time on Thursday, Jan. 9, according to a news release from the St. Helena Sheriff’s Office.
Ryant Jones, 31, was identified as the suspect. He was arrested and charged with three first-degree murders.
“It was a terrible tragedy. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims’ families,” the sheriff’s office stated.
The victims were later identified as Rhonda Powell, her son Braylon, and her nephew Hayden, according to a GoFundMe page set up by Powell’s cousin Deondra Warner.
On the fundraising page, Warner stated that Jones is a family member with “a documented history of schizophrenia” and that he was “experiencing a mental health episode” during the attacks.
“Just the day before, he was brought to a medical center for assistance and given new medication. Unfortunately, the help he needed arrived too late to prevent this tragic outcome,” she wrote.
Warner told WAFB that Jones’ family took him in after doctors refused to commit him at their request due to “signs of aggression.”
“She pleaded or implored the doctor to give him the shot that usually works.” Instead, the doctor gives him a pill,” she explained to the outlet.
“No one in that home survived because the mental health system failed him,” Warner said. “Had he been committed, he would be where he needed to be today, and my other family members would be alive.”
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