Alabama boy confesses to killing parents and 3 younger siblings, sheriff says

Elkmont, Ala. -- A 14-year-old boy admitted to killing five members of his family, including his three younger siblings, in a slaying that rattled a small Alabama town, authorities said Tuesday. Limestone County sheriff's spokesman Stephen Young said the boy called 911 at about 11 p.m. Monday.

He met deputies on the driveway and told them he heard gunshots upstairs while he was in the basement and he ran out the door. The teen later confessed to being the one who pulled the trigger, Young said.

"Upon being confronted with some of the inconsistencies, he did admit to shooting the five family members. All five were family members and all five lived in the residence," Young said.

CBS affiliate WIAT-TV reports that authorities identified the victims as the teenager's father, John Wayne Sisk, 38; his stepmother, Mary Sisk, 35; and three siblings -- a 6-year-old boy, 5-year-old girl and a 6-month-old boy.

He faces murder charges and is being held in a juvenile detention facility. Young said he could face adult charges, including capital murder.

Authorities didn't describe any possible motive. They did not release the teen's name because he is a juvenile. 

The boy later led investigators to a 9 mm handgun tossed on the side of the road near the residence, investigators said. The sheriff's office said the weapon was in the home illegally, but did not elaborate.

The slayings rocked the quiet community of Elkmont, a tiny town of 500 just northwest of Huntsville and not far from the Alabama-Tennessee border.

"This is a community that has a lot of healing to do right now," Young told reporters.

The stepmother, Mary Sisk, worked as a special education teacher in Huntsville, according to her page on the school website. CBS affiliate WHNT reports she worked at Madison County Elementary School last school year, a Madison County Schools spokesman confirmed.

"I have been in education for over 10 years working with students in all walks of life. I am happily married with a great husband and four beautiful children," she wrote on the school webpage.

A woman who answered the phone at a relative's home said she couldn't comment right now.

"The whole town is just shaken by it," Elkmont Mayor Tracy Compton told The Associated Press.  "It is just total shock and disbelief. It's hard to process." Compton said he can't remember the last time the town had a murder.

Compton lives about a half-mile from the family. He said he remembers the teen riding up and down the road on his minibike. "It's just hard to believe that's the same person."

Young told WHNT that the 14-year-old attended Elkmont High School.

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• Alabama