Winston-Salem murder suicide: Ethal Syretha Steele shoots dead her three children then self at North Carolina home. No known motive. Mom described as reclusive.
A mother shot dead her three children then self in a suspected murder-suicide in North Carolina Tuesday.
The shooting happened sometime before noon inside the family’s quiet suburban home in Winston-Salem.
Responding cops came across the macabre scene of the deceased body of 40-year-old Ethal Syretha Steele, along with her three children, Sakenlo Shawn Steele Jr., 14, and sisters Sakenya Syretha Steele, 12, and Sakendra Syann Steele, 9.
Cops were called to the scene around 11:54 am, though it is unclear by whom. An unidentified man was seen sobbing outside the home later in the afternoon.
‘It’s a sad situation,’ Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough said at the scene on the 3100 block of Brookhill Drive Tuesday. ‘That’s all I can tell you.’
Where was the children’s father?
An unnamed resident, speaking to the The Winston-Salem Journal, described the family ‘very reclusive’ – with the three school-aged children only occasionally coming out to play with her kids.
Others showed shock over the sudden deaths in a normally quiet community, with residents describing the cul de sac where the family lived as safe, and even sleepy.
‘This is a quiet area, very quiet,’ another neighbor who also asked to not be identified told the outlet.
Angela Terrill, speaking to Fox 8, expressed similar surprise.
‘This happened in my neighborhood. You don’t want to see this. You see this on the news, and it is another neighborhood.
‘For it to happen here in our neighborhood, is very concerning. It’s close to home.’
None of the neighbors mentioned the children’s father, who cops would not confirm Thursday was the one who made the late-morning call to cops.
Unanswered questions
While he was not explicitly seen among the crowd of pedestrians, officers, and press outside the home Tuesday afternoon, deputies were seen comforting an unidentified, crying man at the scene.
It continued to remain unclear how the man was connected to the incident.
Similarly, it is not known whether Ethal Steele lived with a spouse, or if she was still involved with children’s’ father.
Cops would not confirm Tuesday that the siblings shared the same father.
Police were still probing what led to the apparent murders, which likely occurred sometime in the morning, but could possibly have happened earlier.
Members of the Winston-Salem Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division handling the case would not say whether the caller who alerted them to the shooting had heard gunshots.
Neighbors said that they did not see or hear anything out of the ordinary in the early-morning hours, fueling speculation that the murders could have been carried out the previous night or even earlier.
Police are asking anyone with relevant information to contact the Crime Stoppers hotline, as the family’s bodies are transferred to a local coroner.
The children’s deaths are the 14th, 15th and 16th homicides in the North Carolina city this year.
