Photo: Facebook / Davie County Sheriff's Office
The community is horrified and baffled.
By Dan O'Reilly — Written on Apr 25, 2022
A North Carolina community has been left baffled by a murder-suicide in Davie County in which a father appears to have killed his girlfriend and their two children before turning the gun on himself.
Officers happened upon the murder scene while responding to a house fire that appears to have been lit by the father after his family was killed.
Aschod Ewing-Meeks has been named as the accused in the Davie County murder-suicide.
Police believe that Aschod Ewing-Meeks killed his wife and two children after the entire family was found having been shot to death. Ewing-Meeks was found with a gun in his hand.
The bodies of 26-year-old Ashton Brown, 4-year-old Bella Meeks-Ewing, and 8-month-old Brixx Meeks-Ewing were all found in the home alongside the body of their 26-year-old father.
The family had gone to the Davie County Sheriff’s Office earlier that day.
Video footage shows the family entering the sheriff’s office only hours before they were found dead.
Aschod Ewing-Meeks reportedly asked to speak to an officer, saying, “You guys have people working here today?”
The family didn’t stick around for long, however, leaving only minutes later and before anyone could come out to speak to them. Ewing-Meeks allegedly asked about getting a concealed carry permit before the family left.
Not long after the visit, the Ewing-Meeks and Brown made multiple calls to the police. Reportedly, Ewing-Meeks was vague about the reason for their call when he was on the phone, though he did say that he thought that someone was following them.
When officers tried to get the family to come back to the station or to tell them where they were, they declined.
Police continued to try to reach the family without success.
Neighbors are as surprised as they are appalled by the tragic incident.
Davie County Sheriff JD Hartman said of the tragedy, “It’s definitely been an impact on the community, on the neighborhood. It’s not an area where we have a lot of calls or issues. The neighbors said they were good neighbors.”
Some neighbors have gotten together to raise money for Brown’s family in the wake of the tragedy. Nikole Lewis organized the effort and said of their mission, “As a community, we all put ourselves in that situation. What if that was us? What if that was our family or one of our loved ones?”
Dan O'Reilly is a writer who covers news, politics, and social justice. Follow him on Twitter.