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Post by Graveyardbride on Sept 4, 2019 8:46:50 GMT -5
14-Year-Old Shoots, Kills Five Family Members in AlabamaMason Sisk, age 14, has been charged with the murders of five family members in Elkmont, Alabama, a small community with a population of approximately 450 in the northern part of the state.
On the night of Monday, September 2 (Labor Day), Mason Sisk called 911 around 10:30 p.m., claiming he heard gunfire upstairs. When sheriff’s deputies arrived at the modest home on Ridge Road, they found Mason in the basement. “He said that he ran out the door and there was very little information given,” Stephen Young of the Limestone County Sheriff’s Department, said.
Five members of the family, John Sisk, 38, Mason’s father; Mary Sisk, 35, his stepmother; and three children – Colson, a 6-month old baby; Rorrie, a 5-year-old girl; and Kane, age 6, – had been shot. Three were dead and two others were transported to the hospital in critical condition, where they were pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
John Sisk worked at a car dealership and his wife, Mary, was a special education teacher. John also had a cosmetology license.
Mason was taken in for questioning and ultimately admitted to shooting his family. With the teen’s assistance, a handgun, believed to be the weapon used in the shootings, was discovered on the side of the road where it had been tossed.
Investigators noted the gun shouldn’t have been in the house because John Sisk was a convicted felon. Before relocating to Alabama, Sisk was convicted of a felony in Indiana. More recently, in February 2019, he was charged with armed burglary. According to court documents, Sisk was accused of going to a man’s home “with the intent to rob him, then used a pistol to assault the victim and caused harm to him.” The case was still in progress at the time of the shootings.
Mason Sisk’s biological mother died suddenly in 2011 at the age of 31. By the time of her death, she was married to another man. In addition to Mason, she had a second son.
Investigators haven’t yet established a motive for the murders. Sources: Ivana Hrynkiw and Ashley Remkus, Al.com, September 3, 2019; The Associated Press, September 3, 2019; Eliott C. McLaughlin, Deanna Hackney and Justin Gamble, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 4, 2019; Breken Terry, WAAY-TV; and several unnamed friends and neighbors.
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Post by catherine on Sept 4, 2019 10:47:52 GMT -5
Thanks for finding out and posting this young bastard's name. The TV stations still haven't named him because of his age. If the SOB is old enough to kill, he's old enough to have his name released.
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Post by kitty on Jun 6, 2020 20:23:59 GMT -5
Whatever happened with this shooting?
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Post by Graveyardbride on Jun 6, 2020 21:50:47 GMT -5
Whatever happened with this shooting? Mason Sisk (above) confessed to the murders shortly after he was arrested and is still being held in a juvenile detention facility. The proceedings in his case, like everything else, were placed on hold because of the China virus pandemic.
In an interview with WAFF-TV in Huntsville, Mason’s cousin, Daisy McCarty, claimed Mason had just learned Mary Sisk wasn’t his real mother and she believed this was what set him off. “He didn’t know any different of who his mom was. And they just recently told him, and I think that’s really what triggered the little boy, to be honest with you,” she told a reporter. She also said that in the months prior to the shootings, he had started acting out by burning animals alive and breaking into his school.
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Post by Graveyardbride on Sept 18, 2023 16:27:36 GMT -5
Killer Gets Life Without Possibility of Parole
Mason Sisk, now 18, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders in September 2019 of his parents and three siblings, ages 6, 4 and 6 months. The jury deliberated less than two hours before coming back with a guilty verdict. Because he was only 14 at the time he annihilated his family, he was ineligible for the death penalty.
At an impact victim statement in July, the teenager was forced to face family members who condemned his heinous acts. Douglas Prater, sister of Mary Sisk, told those present, “On September 1, 2019, I came home with gifts for everyone – including you, Mason. Instead of seeing the happiness on their faces, I had to put those gifts in caskets.”
Prater continued “Your Nanny, [mother of himself and Mary Sisk]… she chose you as a grandson. She passed away this past year and so your one supporter is gone.” This comment clearly disturbed the Defendant, who swallowed hard.
But Denise Prater wasn’t Sisk’s only supporter. Even though there is video footage of the teenager admitting to killing his family because he was “fed up” with “all the fighting,” a few individuals still do not believe he committed the murders.
Lola Holladay, Mason’s girlfriend in September 2019, testified for the defense, telling the jury, “On the night of the murders, he called me, bawling, hyperventilating. I couldn’t understand him. I had to calm him down. I never believed that Mason did this. I thought that he lost his mind in jail being by himself. I never believed any of the messages he sent me from jail.”
Charles Holladay, Lola’s father, described the boy as “very well-mannered, thoughtful.” He [Mason] told Lola if anything “bad happened to his family that his uncle [Lance Fisk] did it and he [Mason] would take the blame.” He then recalled a disturbing incident involving Lance Sisk at the Sisk home. “During the visit he [Lance Sisk] told a little girl to ‘come lick his underarm and get in there real good.’ I was appalled and we left,” he claimed.
Holladay also heard that Mason was mistreated, even abused, while in jail. “I don’t think admissions by a 14-year-old boy locked up 23 hours a day should hold any weight,” he said. “I don’t believe he did what he’s been convicted of doing.”
During the trial, Michael Sizemore, Sisk’s attorney, reminded the jury that even though there were “multiple people” who doubted his client’s guilt, there was “never an attempt to identify any other suspects in the case.”
He also questioned Mason’s maturity, saying at one point, the boy “told investigators he had punched a hole in the wall, but before he returned upstairs, he covered the hole with a poster so he wouldn’t get in trouble. That’s the immaturity we’re dealing with,” he told the jury.
He then cited his client’s abusive home environment and a sentence of life without parole. “Mason was 14 at the time,” he emphasized. “To suggest that ... he has no potential for rehabilitation is to say he will be looked at as his 14-year-old self. There’s no one in this room that is the same person they were at 14.”
Nonetheless, Limestone County District Attorney Brian CT Jones is convinced Mason Sisk should spend the remainder of his sorry life behind bars. During the trial, he reminded jury members they weren’t hearing “a case about bad decisions. This is not a case about hope for rehabilitation. It’s the gravity of this situation. It’s not some minor infraction. He planned this. He stole the weapon. He waited for them to go to bed, and shot and killed everyone. When we go to bed at night, lock our doors and turn our alarms on, he’s what we’re afraid of. When kids are scared of monsters, he’s who we’re afraid of.”
In a written statement following Mason Sisk’s harsh sentence, Jones added, “I’ve prosecuted a lot of people in my career. And I can tell you that out of all of those people, only four out of five people scare the hell out of me and he’s at the top of my list.”
Sources: Al.com, September 7, 2023; David Chiu, People, September 8, 2023; Kait Newsum and Logan Sparkman, WHNT, July 25, 2023, and Chris Harris, People, September 12, 2019.
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Post by madeline on Sept 18, 2023 17:49:42 GMT -5
If he had just killed the father, or even the father and the mother, he probably wouldn't have gotten life without parole. What people couldn't accept was that he shot and killed 3 innocent young children, including a 6 month old baby.
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Post by catherine on Sept 19, 2023 8:13:56 GMT -5
Apparently it didn't occur to this genius that if Lance Sisk had killed them, he wouldn't have left Mason alive.
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