A 23-year-old Louisiana man was charged with week with gunning down his grandparents.
Colby Stokes allegedly shot Beverly and Carley Stokes Wednesday afternoon and then walked to a neighbors house and confessed, Washington Parish Sheriff Jason Smith said, according to the Louisiana Radio Network.
“Its kind of a domestic dispute that escalated to the point where now it’s not recoverable. and the extended family is going to be dealing with the consequence of this for a long time,” Smith said.
The neighbor called 911, WDSU reported.
Beverly Stokes was taken to a hospital, where she died, and Carley Stokes was pronounced dead at the scene.
Stokes was initially charged with two counts of second degree murder, but the charges were upgraded to first degree murder on Thursday.
He is also facing charges of cruelty to animals, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and aggravated second-degree battery.
Smith noted that he’d suffered from mental health issues as well as drug and alcohol abuse and said that such circumstances leading to murders aren’t uncommon in the parish, the Louisiana Radio Network said.
“We have a large segment of our population that struggles with drug abuse and mental health issues,” he said.
Smith said that Stokes also confessed to deputies, WWL reported.
