Irony; lawyer John Browning being killed with gun designed by John Browning.
Posted on 02/03/2008 1:02:21 PM PST by don-o
COCKEYSVILLE, Md. - A 15-year-old boy who wasn't getting along with his father was charged with murder Sunday in the deaths of his parents and two younger brothers, who were shot in their sleep at their home in a Baltimore suburb.
After the killings, police said, Nicholas Waggoner Browning spent the night and next day with friends, before returning and reporting he had found his father's body.
He was arrested at 1:05 a.m. Sunday after he admitted committing the killings, Baltimore County Police spokesman Bill Toohey said.
Browning was charged as an adult with four counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of his father, lawyer John Browning, 45; his mother Tamara, 44; and his brothers Gregory, 13, and Benjamin, 11.
The teen had not been getting along with his father, police said in a news release. On Friday night, he went into the house after other family members had gone to sleep and shot each of them using his father's handgun, which was in the house, police said.
After the slayings, he threw the gun into bushes near the house, police said. The gun was recovered, Toohey said.
Browning then spent Friday night and all day Saturday with friends, Toohey said. When the friends took him back to his house at 5 p.m. Saturday, Browning went into the house and came back out to say that his father was dead. He called 911.
Police officers said all four victims were shot in their sleep. They said Browning's father was found in a ground-floor room and his mother and brothers were dead in upstairs bedrooms. There was no sign of a confrontation, Toohey said.
Browning, a sophomore at Dulaney High School in neighboring Timonium, was denied bail Sunday morning; a bail review hearing was scheduled Monday. He was being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center in a special section for juveniles.
Toohey said he didn't know if Browning had a lawyer.
Even if convicted as an adult of first-degree murder, Browning is too young under state law to face the death penalty.
Two of Browning's classmates drove past the family's house Sunday afternoon and wept when they learned from reporters that he was charged in the slayings.
"It's hard to believe someone could do this," said Brooke Kebaugh, 16.
Liz Lazlawbach, 17, said Browning complained about fighting with his father, but "not about anything violent."
The grounds of the two-story home were neat and neighbor Mike Thomas said the Brownings would even pick up trash along the street.
"These people would do anything in the world for you — just incredible people," Thomas said.
Neighbors called each other throughout the night to discuss the killings, Thomas said. He said one of his sons had been in Boy Scouts with one of the Brownings' sons and was devastated when he learned of the deaths.
John Browning was a partner in the law firm of Royston, Mueller, McLean & Reid in Towson, focusing on real estate law and commercial and corporate law.
The partners said Browning was an accomplished lawyer. "He was also a person invested in his family and community," the partners said. "He led his local scout troop. He was a leader at his church. In short, John Browning was a great man. We will all miss him very, very much."
The Brownings' Boy Scout unit, Troop 328, meets at Timonium United Methodist Church. The Rev. Frances Dailey said Sunday that the troop's leaders did not want to talk. He said John Browning was "beloved and well revered. I'm told this is not the kind of family that this could happen to."
Counselors were to be available Monday to meet with students at Dulaney High, said Charles Herndon, a county school spokesman. He declined to say where Browning's younger brothers went to school.
So he can be fed and supported by taxpayers for the rest of his life...possibly 60 years worth or more...
Gallows too good?
I'm not sure I would sleep through that.
I’m sorry, this punk needs to be put down. He wiped his whole family out. ALL of them, not just the dad he was ‘having problems with.’ I’d put him down for taking out his dad. On top of it he was a coward and murdered them while they slept.
Did Toohey say what kinds of mood-altering drugs Browning was on?
Maybe a pillow muffled it a bit. It depends if you’re in a really sound state of sleep too. I had college roomies that I could push on for a half hour who wouldn’t wake up.
Give the kid a break — he’s an orphan.
“I always wonder when these things happen: How on earth didn’t the other three people hear the first shot, or even the second or third shot.”
Depends what the gun was. A .22 can be very lethal at close range and is not all that noisy.
He was probably having ‘problems’ with his father because he’d been disciplined for breaking a rule.
Shot in his sleep in a ground-floor room?
My daughter sat next to him in one of her classes. He was a nice kid and good student who didnt use drugs, but he complained about his father all the time. Unbelievable shame.
I can see a replay of the Menendez trial. Some defense attorney will try to paint the father as an abuser, tearing apart all the nice things people said about him in this article. Since the father and the rest of the family are dead, there won't be anyone to refute the charges. This little bastard will probably plead guilty to a lesser charge and be out in 10-15 years, or less.
Psychopath?
Another reason why parents should be heavily armed around their children. Can’t trust the little ankle biters.
Irony; lawyer John Browning being killed with gun designed by John Browning.
Children are people too. That’s why they can do that. They’re taught they’re just animals. Morals are relative. Parents are not allowed to control you, only the school and government tell you right and wrong.
That’s how it happens.
No, he was a nice kid, he took mostly AP classes. He was normal, except he hated his father (which is normal for a teenager?) He helped my daughter with Trig HW. Unbelievable.
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