Md. Boy, 15, Charged With Killing Family

By KASEY JONES – 1 day ago

COCKEYSVILLE, Md. (AP) — A 15-year-old boy was charged with murder Sunday in the shooting deaths of his parents and two younger brothers in their suburban Baltimore home.

Nicholas Waggoner Browning was charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of his father, John Browning, 45; his mother Tamara, 44; and his brothers Gregory, 13, and Benjamin, 11. He was charged as an adult.

Browning was arrested at 1:05 a.m. Sunday after he admitted to the killings, Baltimore County Police spokesman Bill Toohey said.

The teen had not been getting along with his father, police said in a news release. On Friday night, he went into the house after other family members were asleep and shot each of them using his father's handgun, which was in the house, police said.

After the slayings, he threw the gun away in bushes near his house, police said. The gun has been recovered, Toohey said.

Browning then spent Friday night and all day Saturday with friends, Toohey said. When the friends took him back to his house at 5 p.m. Saturday, Browning went into the house and came back out to say that his father was dead. He called 911.

Police officers found Browning's father dead in a ground-floor room and the bodies of his mother and brothers in upstairs bedrooms. There was no sign of a confrontation, Toohey said.

Browning was denied bail Sunday morning; bail review was scheduled Monday at District Court in Towson. He was being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center in a special section for juveniles.

Toohey said he didn't know whether Browning had a lawyer.

Even if convicted as an adult of first-degree murder, Browning is too young under state law to face the death penalty.

Two of Nicholas Browning's fellow students drove past the family's house Sunday afternoon. They started to weep when told by reporters that Browning was charged in the slayings.

"It's hard to believe someone could do this," said Brooke Kebaugh, 16.

Liz Lazlawbach, 17, said Browning complained about fighting with his father, but "not about anything violent."

The grounds of the two-story home were neat and neighbor Mike Thomas said the Brownings would even pick up trash along the street.

"These people would do anything in the world for you — just incredible people," Thomas said.

Neighbors called each other throughout the night to discuss the killings, Thomas said.

He said one of his sons had been in Boy Scouts with one of the Brownings' sons and was devastated when he learned of the deaths. Thomas said he recently sold Browning a trailer that Browning planned to use for Boy Scout outings, and it was still parked in the Brownings' driveway Sunday.

John Browning was an attorney and partner at Royston, Mueller, McLean & Reid.

Counselors were to be available Monday to meet with students at Dulaney High, said Charles Herndon, a county school spokesman. He declined to say where Browning's younger brothers went to school.