Atkins Arkansas murder suicide: 5 female family members ranging from ages of 8 to 50 found dead at home. Multiple gunshot victims.
At least five people — all thought to be family members — involving two women and three girls have been found dead in their Arkansas home in what appeared to be a Christmas Day massacre, authorities said.
Deputies responded to a home in Atkins on a call of a possible homicide after 5 p.m., according to the Pope County Sheriff’s Office.
Tragedy has struck Pope County on this Christmas Day,’ a sheriff’s office spokesman said a press conference Friday. ‘Upon arrival, we did notice that there was potentially five victims within this residence. We believe them to be all family members at this time.’
Identified as the deceased were; two adults, Patricia Patrick, 61, and Jaquita Chase, 31, and three children, Danielle Collins, 7, Levenah Countryman, 10, and Abigail Heflin, 12.
Of note, officials declined to say who perpetrated the murder suicide.
#UPDATE: statement from the @PopeCountySO on a Christmas night homicide investigation in Atkins. 5 possible victims, all believed to be family members. More coming up tonight on @KARK4News and @FOX16News. pic.twitter.com/LLTcUXEsSr
— Caitrin Assaf (@caitrinassaf) December 26, 2020
Unimaginable news
During a weekend news conference, Pope County Sheriff Shane Jones disclosed the deceased as being five women aged 8 to 50, had died, at least some by gunshots. He said this was believed to be a ‘domestic’ incident and no suspect was at large. Those comments suggested, though the sheriff declined to specifically confirm it, that this was a multiple-murder-suicide. Jones said there was no further danger to the public.
To date it remained unclear what led to one of the deceased presumably killing other family members on Christmas Day.
Relatives of the two women and three girls involved have set up a GoFundMe to help with funeral costs, writing: ‘On Christmas day, we recieved [sic] unimaginable news.
‘5 of our precious relatives were found deceased in their home. A grandmother, mother, and 3 children, all taken from us.’
The investigation is ongoing.
Atkins, a town of about 3,000 people, is in central Arkansas, about 70 miles northwest of Little Rock.
