A Greensboro, North Carolina, woman, 28, appeared in court Thursday, Jan. 2, accused of a triple homicide that occurred on New Year’s Day. According to local FOX affiliate, FOX6, Brittany McKinney shot and killed her 10-year-old daughter Mkenzie, 2-year-old niece Serenity, and 61-year-old Jerry Griffin, who was living in the home.
Fox reports that police are still unable to determine a motive for the shooting.
McKinney was on the telephone with her sister when she admitted to the shootings, causing her sister to request a welfare check.
McKinney reportedly left the scene of the crime then got into an accident, where she hit a power pole and the car of Veronica Hayes, approximately 30 minutes after the alleged shootings occurred.
“I was just trying to make sure she was OK, not knowing what had happened moments before,” Hayes told FOX6. “She grabbed my hoodie and said, ‘I don’t want you to be involved.’ She said, ‘Sis, I don’t want you to be involved.’ I think she was a little disoriented at that point.”
McKinney’s sister, Delilah Merritt, was on the phone with McKinney moments after the shootings and was forced to endure the gut-wrenching news in real time.
“She said, ‘I killed everybody. I shot everybody in the house,’ ” Merritt said, according to FOX8. “She’s like, ‘My baby, my baby, I shot my baby.’ And then I said, ‘Where’s Serenity?’ and she said, ‘I shot her too.’
“I never thought she would do something like this.”
A makeshift memorial has been erected outside McKinney’s home.
McKinney could face the death penalty and is currently being held without bond.
