Authorities in Alabama say a father killed his wife, their two children, and two other children who were connected to him this week. The father has been charged.
A press statement from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency says that Brandon Kendrick, 32, of West Blocton is accused of killing his wife Kelsey Kendrick, 24, and their four children.
That night, July 18, around 10 p.m., someone was shot in West Blocton, which is in Bibb County, Alabama.
Three other children, two of whom were “Kendrick’s children and the other two were relatives,” were also killed. They were two years old, six years old, and nine years old. Now, five different murders are being looked into by special agents from the ALEA’s State Bureau of Investigation. Kendrick was arrested and taken to the Bibb County Jail without bond.
Kendrick is being charged with five counts of murder with the death penalty. He may have hired a lawyer, but it’s not clear.
The ALEA said in its release, “Nothing else is available as the investigation is still ongoing.” “Once complete, the findings will be turned over to Alabama’s 4th Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.”
Police say Kendrick’s arrest comes just a few days after what they called a “tragic day” of gun crime in other parts of the state. In Birmingham on the night of July 13, seven people were killed and ten more were hurt in two different shootings.
At around 5:30 p.m., the first killing happened in the 1700 block of Indian Summer Drive. Three people were killed inside a car: a 28-year-old mother, her 5-year-old son, and a 28-year-old man. After less than six hours, at 11:08 p.m., there was a second shooting at an event center that killed four more people and hurt ten more.
When he spoke to the press on July 14, Chief Scott Thurmond said that the killings were “probably the most tragic day in my time at the Birmingham Police Department.” He said the violence was “horribly unacceptable.”
