An elderly couple who ran a home daycare for 20 years was allegedly brutally killed by their grandson.
Quinton Dashawn Laster, 20, of Oklahoma City is facing two charges of first-degree murder for the deaths of Sharon Reed, 59, and James Earl Reed, 78. According to a neighbor identified as Gerald Lyon, he and Laster had the following exchange:
“I said, What is it? and he said, ‘Somebody killed my grandma,’ ” Lyon noticed that Laster had a gun. “I said, Well, you need to call 911 if you’ve done that, and he said, ‘I’m thinking about it.’ I said, Thinking about it? You need to do it.”
When police responded to the scene, they discovered the elderly couple had been stabbed, shot and their heads crudely cut off. There were three children in a covered garage at the scene unharmed; police do not believe the toddlers saw the killings. According to family member Brenda Jackson, Laster had been battling a drug problem. He had recently been kicked out of his mother’s house after he destroyed all of the televisions in the residence. Another family member then took him in and he was also kicked out of that home. Finally, his grandparents gave him a place to stay.
The couple was well loved by the community and their deaths have residents grieving. Family members are also in shock over the heinous nature of the slayings and the troubling fact that it was their grandson who was accused of the crime.
When police arrived on the scene, Laster was slightly agitated but calm and was taken into custody without resistance. Family members stated that Laster had no history of mental illness and they are devastated over his actions. He is being held without bond in the Oklahoma City Jail.
