BY SARAH STEPHENS
ELMORE/AUTAUGA NEWS
PHOTO BY HEATHER KNIGHT, EAN
According to Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin, two women are dead and a man has been taken by LifeFlight to an area hospital after a an apparent murder/suicide attempt earlier today.
Sometime after 1 p.m. today 911 received a call from an adult female stating that her father had shot her mother, and was threatening to shoot her grandmother. He had reportedly told her he would then shoot himself and for her to call the sheriff’s office.
Sheriff’s deputies and first responders immediately headed to the scene including Sheriff Franklin.
“We had a call to 6157 Hwy. 143 in reference to this incident. Once on scene it was determined that two females were deceased from gun shot wounds. They have been identified as Susan Jefferies, 62, and her mother-in-law Joyce Jefferies, 84. The apparent shooter is William Jefferies, 64. It was his wife, Susan, and his mother, Joyce, that were killed,” Franklin said.
The home has a Deatsville address.
The daughter who made the call was not physically harmed, and her young children who were with her in the house are also physically safe, he said.
“What it appears to be at this point is a situation where this is a good family, but William Jefferies was not taking it well that his mother, Joyce Jefferies, had dementia,” Franklin told the EAN. “The two women were shot in different rooms of the house.”
Franklin said the gun used in the murders and his attempted suicide is a .380 semi automatic. Shell casings retrieved from the scene match up with what detectives believe occurred, and what the daughter told authorities in her 911 call.
Deputies were still on scene and the Forensics investigators were expected to arrive very soon.
This incident falls on the heels of a similar tragic situation last week in Prattville. That incident occurred on Shadow Lane where a man reportedly shot and killed his girlfriend, then himself. Full details on that have not been released, pending notification of kin for the suspected shooter.
If you or someone you know is in a domestic violence situation, help is available. Please contact law enforcement, reach out to family. An area agency who can help is the Family Sunshine Center. You can view more on them at their website at familysunshine.org.
