The home where Jonathan Rolfe allegedly murdered his mother, sister, and a man. (Screenshot: WHBQ)
A 17-year-old Arkansas boy was the person who fatally shot his mother, sister, and a man in the fall, deputies claim. Now Jonathan Rolfe is charged as an adult with three counts of capital murder, according to WHBQ.
St. Francis County deputies said they found the victims dead while performing a welfare check on the home. They found the adults — mother Shalanda Barton, 34, and Ja’Terrence Wright, 32 — dead in bed with gunshot wounds. Barton’s daughter Kelsie Thompson, 13, was found on the floor of a bedroom. A 4-year-old child at home during the time of the shooting survived, St. Francis County Sheriff Bobby May said at the time.
Investigators were waiting for a forensic report from the Arkansas State Laboratory before they could make an arrest.
”It was absolutely cold-blooded murder,” Sheriff May reportedly said at a press conference on Thursday.
Investigators claim Rolfe shot everyone before 2 a.m. on Nov. 27. He allegedly stole Barton’s car then ditched it, but he had the key fob to that vehicle.
”I’m happy this process for justice is beginning,” Wright’s relative Clarissa Jackson said at the press conference. She voiced shock at the deaths. ”I understand Ja’Terrance was a stranger to him, but to know he could kill his mother and sibling in cold blood, in such a way is really hard to wrap my mind and understand that.”
The Forest City School District previously said without naming her that Thompson attended school there.
Rest In Peace 🖤
13-year-old Kelsie Thompson was one of three fatally shot by her brother, 17-year-old Jonathan Rolfe, in November of 2022.
On Tuesday, Rolfe was arrested and charged with the murder of Thompson, his mother and mother’s boyfriend. https://t.co/mxZuzda1a8 pic.twitter.com/8jb096zVLj
— Action News 5 (@WMCActionNews5) February 9, 2023
“The Forrest City School District is saddened at learning of the tragic loss of a FCSD student and her family members overnight,” they said in November.
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