The surviving son of a woman brutally murdered along with her other two children and a female partner in upstate New York fears he could also be targeted by the killer.
The Troy Police Department identified the victims as Shanta Myers, 36, her two children, Jeremiah, 11, and Shanise, 5, and Brandi Mells, 22. According to the police, Mells and Myers were in a “relationship.”
No suspect has yet been named and police are asking the public for help as the investigation continues.
The victim’s bodies were found on the day after Christmas, but the police chief hopes an autopsy will help clear up the timing.
Tedesco told Fox News that “certain factors were uncovered during the investigation” that may mean the killings were targeted.
“Give the information to the authorities so that they can help find the person who has destroyed us, emotionally, mentally,” Symes said. “It feels like somebody has ripped us to shreds.”
Symes also said she would raise Myer’s son, Isaiah Smith, in the wake of the horrific murders.
“It will be deeply felt by all his friends at the Club and throughout the community.”
The locals in Troy, a city of 50,000 seven miles from the state capital of Albany, were shocked to learn about the murders. Before the murders discovered on Tuesday, there were only two homicides in Troy all year. The annual average is six murders, Tedesco said, according to New York Times.
“For someone to do this to two children is horrific,” Mark McGrath, a city council member, told Fox News. “I can’t even explain how people feel up here. We’ve had homicides here in the past, as all communities do, but children—it really, really has affected this community.”
The city’s mayor praised police and reached out on Twitter to comfort residents.
“Troy is a strong, resilient city that always comes together to support our neighbors & friends impacted by tragic incidents like this,” Madden wrote on Twitter. “The thoughts of our entire community remain with the victims’ families during this incredibly difficult time.”
