Family of five all dead in North Carolina murder-suicide
(Robert J. Crayton, Jr. and Athalia A. Crayton, Image credits: Facebook)
Tragedy struck down an entire family of five in High Point, North Carolina, after police there announced that the father of that family, Robert J. Crayton, Jr., shot and killed his wife and the couple’s three children, before shooting and killing himself. The carnage went down on January 7 inside the family home located at 2734 Mossy Meadow Drive. Police responded to the home at 7:05 a.m. in reference to a 911 call from two people from that residence running through the neighborhood “screaming for help.”
On January 9, the High Point Police Department identified and listed the family members that died in the murder-suicide as:
- Robert J. Crayton, Jr. (45)
- Athalia A. Crayton (46)
- Kasin Crayton (18)
- Juvenile 1 (16)
- Juvenile 2 (10)
The New York Post reports police as saying that the father living at that address had a history of mental illness and that authorities had been called to the home on several occasions. Officers with the High Point PD responded to complaints at that location at least five times since 2014.
It was almost exactly one year ago when police went to the home on January 3, 2022. At that time, officers served an involuntary mental commitment order. That was the last time police were called to the home before the murder-suicide this year on January 7. Yahoo! News reported that the involuntary mental commitment order involved Robert Crayton, Jr., but did not release info about where he was committed or when he was released.
The two individuals, both in their twenties, that survived the shootings, ran from the Crayton residence just after 7 a.m. and began banging on neighborhood doors screaming for help. High Point Police Lt. Patrick Welsh said that one of the survivors that ran from the home was a direct relation to the Craytons and the other was an acquaintance.
“In my 27, pushing 28, years in this police department, we’ve never had anything like this happen before,” High Point police chief Travis Stroud said. “Clearly an impact case for us as a police department (and) as a city.” ~ NBC News
This most recent tragedy in High Point occurred only days after another man shot and killed his wife, his five children and his mother-in-law before taking his own life in a highly publicized Utah murder-suicide.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
For more on this most recent murder-sicide in North Carolina, see the video accompanying tis article.
(Source: High Point Police Department, Cover photo: Twitter)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Follow Richard on Facebook. Twitter & Instagram
