MILTON, Mass. — A man fatally stabbed his 17-year-old sister, decapitated his 5-year-old sister in front of a police officer and then turned toward his 9-year-old sister with a knife in his hand before officers shot him dead, police said
There was no clear motive for the carnage wrought by 23-year-old Kerby Revelus on Saturday, the day after the 5-year-old’s birthday, in this Boston suburb. The cake for her birthday sat on the kitchen table.
Nine-year-old Sarafina dialed 911 and watched police shoot her brother as her elder sister, 17-year-old Samantha, lay dead on the floor.
Sarafina was hospitalized Sunday with defensive wounds to her hands and stab wounds in her abdomen and one of her legs, police said.
“In policing, we see the raw human emotion every day, but to think that a human being could afflict such an atrocious, violent act on his own family is unbelievable,” Milton police Chief Richard Wells said.
“When I walked up to the first officer (on the scene), I could see the whole story right in his face. This just told me that this was something very bad,” Wells said.
Saturday’s attack came about 24 hours after Revelus had gotten into a fistfight with a man living next door, Wells said, adding that he didn’t know the cause of the fight.
Investigators believe Revelus targeted Samantha and fatally stabbed her with a household knife while their grandmother, who neighbors say lives on the first floor of the house, was doing laundry in the basement. The children’s parents, whose identities weren’t immediately revealed, were away; their mother is a nurse at a Boston hospital, Wells said.
Sarafina called 911 around 5 p.m. An officer on patrol in the neighborhood arrived within a minute, Wells said, and could hear an altercation inside as he reached the second floor. The 911 operator tried to persuade Sarafina to open the door, but when she didn’t the officer broke through.
“As the officer entered the door, (Revelus) decapitated (Bianca) in front of him,” Wells said. “He actually walked into a killing field. He walked into such carnage, as far as the atrocity of it, I’ve never seen it.”
Within moments, four officers were inside and two of them shot Revelus as he tried to get to Sarafina, Wells said. Revelus fell, still clutching the knife.
Police had been called to the family’s house in 2004 after a domestic violence report that Revelus had punched a woman living there, Wells said.
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