Man convicted in 'mass murder' of 4 family members and a pregnant woman after fight over curfew

INDIANAPOLIS (TCN) -- A jury found a 21-year-old man guilty of killing his parents, two of his siblings, and his brother’s pregnant girlfriend following an argument about staying out past curfew.

Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears announced Raymond Childs III was convicted of six counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, and one count of carrying a handgun without a weapon for killing his parents, Kezzie Childs and Raymond Childs, both 42, sister Rita Childs, 13, brother Elijah Childs, 18, Elijah Childs' 19-year-old girlfriend, Kiara Hawkins, and Hawkins' unborn child.

Court records indicate he will be sentenced in January.

Indianapolis Metro Police Department officers responded to the shooting call on Jan. 24, 2021, and found one of Childs' brothers wounded but still alive. The brother reportedly identified Childs as the shooter and told them about more victims at his residence.

The prosecutor’s office indicted Childs on Jan. 28, 2021. Even though Childs was 17 years old at the time of the crime, he was charged as an adult "due to his age and the allegation of murder."

Childs went to trial in July, but a judge declared it a mistrial after a witness for the prosecution confronted Childs and violated courtroom regulations, WXIN-TV reports.

According to Childs' probable cause affidavit, homicide detectives went to the home and found over 15 spent shell casings, as well as money that was covered in blood. Detectives interviewed the brother, identified in the affidavit as X.C., who survived the shooting and spoke with cops outside the home. He said Hawkins was "supposed to be having a baby next week." Additionally, he claimed Childs got in trouble with his parents because he left the house the night before without permission. When Childs returned home, his father reportedly told him he "would be in trouble later." After that, X.C. reportedly heard several gunshots.

X.C. reportedly offered Childs $40 not to kill him, but Childs "just looked at me and then he shot me on the leg." He reportedly also shot X.C.’s arm and aimed for his head, but missed.

Childs' girlfriend told police that he came over to her house on Jan. 23, 2021, to spend the night, but Childs' father texted him to come home. Childs left, but then came back and said his father kicked him out. Moment later, the girlfriend received a notification about a shooting on the street where Childs and his family lived. She asked if he knew about the shooting, and he reportedly said no. The girlfriend spoke with Childs' surviving sisters and told Childs to go to the scene later that day, but when they got there, he "began crying and 'acted like a clown.'"

Childs reportedly got in his girlfriend’s car and placed what he said was a bag of clothes at his feet. When he got out, he took the bags but the girlfriend found a magazine clip in her car. Detectives executed a search warrant for her vehicle and discovered an "AK-style magazine wrapped in clothes on the front passenger side floorboard." The magazine contained 30 rounds of some of the same ammunition that investigators located at the scene.

An autopsy showed Childs Jr. and Kezzie Childs both died from multiple gunshot wounds to the torso. Rita Childs suffered a single gunshot wound to the chest, while Elijah Childs and Hawkins were killed from a single gunshot wound to the head. Hawkins' child died from "intrauterine fetal demise due to a gunshot wound to the mother’s head." The full-term unborn child reportedly had "fully developed extremities and jaw."

One of Childs' relatives called Indianapolis Metro Police on Jan. 25, 2021, and said he picked up Childs, though Childs claimed "that some people from the next block" killed his family. But the relative saw he had Childs Jr.’s gun on him, which also matched X.C.’s description of the firearm Childs used to shoot him and the other victims.

Mears said in the news release following Childs' conviction, "What occurred inside that home is as unfathomable today as it was in 2021. It has been an incredibly difficult journey for the family and friends of the six people that we tragically lost."

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