An 11-year-old girl who escaped a shooting on Monday reportedly played dead to escape and run to her neighbor’s house, according to recently released court documents. The shooting, which occurred in the early morning hours at her family home in Fall City, Washington, left her parents and three siblings dead.
According to the girl’s account, she woke up to the sound of gunshots and saw her father, Mark Humiston, and her little brother dead and bloodied in the hallway when looking out of her bedroom doorway. The girl then witnessed her 7-year-old sister fall to another gunshot as she walked out of their shared bedroom. The shooter then came to their bedroom and shot the 11-year-old once or twice, striking her in the hand and neck. According to her statement to investigators, the girl recognized the shooter to be her 15-year-old brother, and the weapon as their father’s silver Glock handgun. Her mother, Sarah Marks-Humiston, and her 13-year-old brother were killed elsewhere in the house.
According to her testimony to investigators, the girl powered through the pain of her gunshot wounds and played dead as her brother examined her and her family members to see if they were alive. When her brother left the room and started talking on the phone, the girl escaped through a “fire window” in her bedroom and sought help at her neighbor’s house, who called 911 just after 5a.m.
Court documents reveal authorities received a 911 call from the alleged shooter seven minutes before his sister’s, telling them that he had locked himself in the bathroom and that his 13-year-old brother had shot their family before killing himself. He indicated that a possible motive was that his brother was expecting to get into a lot of trouble for watching pornography.
Authorities detained the 15-year-old when they arrived on the scene, and on Thursday he was charged with five counts of aggravated murder and one count of attempted murder with a gun enhancement. It is yet to be decided whether the minor will be tried as an adult, which prosecutors formally requested in a hearing on Friday. If the case remains in juvenile court, the accused could be kept in custody until the age of 25 with no further sanctions, but could instead carry a sentence of 25 years to life if the case is tried in adult court.
According to the online database Gun Violence Archive, this shooting is the 429th mass shooting this year, which the organization defines as a shooting where four or more people other than the shooter are injured.
