THE UNIVERSITY DAILY GANSAN
MONDAY, MONDAY 30, 2009
.
NEWS 5A
CRIME
Man decapitates 5-year-old sister and stabs other sister
Police officers walked into'a killing field'in home of what neighbor called a solid family
BY GLEN JOHNSON Associated Press
Sherlie Cordice, left, consoles her mother Mavis Phillips outside the scene of a double murder Sunday in Milton, Mass. Phillips said she was a co-worker of Regine Revelus whose son murdered two of his sisters and injured a third before being shot by police on Saturday.
MILTON, Mass. — A man on a rampage fatally stabbed his 17-year-old sister, decapitated his 5-year-old sister in front of a police officer and then headed toward his 9-year-old sister with a knife in his hand before officers shot him
what chief described as "a killing field."
a killing field.
There was no clear motive for the events that unfolded Saturday in a tiny Boston suburb that's home to Gov. Deval Patrick.
But there was no doubt at the
amid what their chief described as
ASSOCIATED PRESS
carnage wrought by 23-year-old Kerby Revelus against his three sisters in the two-family home they shared with their parents and grandmother.
"... To think that a human being could afflict such an atrocious, violent act on his own family is unbelievable."
Bianca was killed as a cake for her fifth birthday sat on the kitchen table. It was not immediately clear when she turned 5. Sarafina dialed 911 and watched police shoot her brother as her elder sister, 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.
RICHARD G.WELLS JR.
Milton police chief
"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
Investigators believe Revelus
24 hours after Revelus had gotten into a fistfight with a man living next door. Wells said.
unbelievable," Milton police Chief Richard G. Wells, Jr. 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."
"Blows were exchanged," he said. "I don't know the cause of it, but we're confident that did happen. He had been agitated in the hours that followed that, going into the day and last night."
targeted Samantha,
a senior at Milton
High School, and
fatally stabbed her
with a household
knife while their
grandmother, who
neighbors say lives
on the first floor,
was doing laundry
in the basement.
The children's parents
where identical.
"As the officer entered the door (Revelus) decapitated (Bianca) in front him."
ties weren't immediately revealed, were away; their mother is a nurse at a Boston hospital, Wells said.
Sarafina, a student at the Tucker Elementary School, just behind the house, called 911 just before 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 oper the door, but when she didn't the officer broke through.
RICHARD G. WELLS JR.
Milton police chief
"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."
he tried to get to Sarafina, Wells said. Revelus fell, still clutching the knife.
Details about the number of shots and who killed Revelus were pending the outcome of an autopsy Sunday.
jail time on a gun charge, Wells said, but the details would not be released until courts opened Monday. Neighbors said Revelus was in a car that was pulled over by police and from which one occupant threw a gun into a sewer.
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.
A neighbor, Norm Walsh, said his daughter Kate Walsh, a Hollis, N.H., police officer, reported hearing two shots as she went outside to bring in groceries from the family car. Moments later, a blood-covered officer emerged carrying Sarafina, seeking towels to stanch her bleeding.
“It’s shocking to me,” said Walsh, whose son is the same age as Revelus. “He played a lot of
pickup hoop in the driveway."
Walsh said the family had lived in the neighborhood for over 20 years and was warm. They were of
Haitian descent,
as are many
residents in a
neighborhood,
where Creole is
spoken alongside
English.
"The family is a solid family. Both parents worked; good
"Both parents worked; good kids. Completely makes no sense."
kids. Completely makes no sense" he said.
and friendliness. She had been one of about 20 students who had been at the high school Saturday afternoon to rehearse for a poetry jam on Thursday.
Saturday morning,
Samantha also had
practiced for a school
fashion show.
Samantha's classmates referred to her by her nickname, Princess, and remarked at her grace, class
NORM WALSH
Revelus' neighbor
"She had a stage presence like you couldn't believe," classmate Kassi Stein said.
"She had just a soft voice and everyone would lean in to hear what she was saying."
Sobbing, sheadded:
In one of the poems Samantha was to recite, "Acquaintance," she
wrote of the strength of women in the face of "ignorant souls"
The poem closed, "So what lousy wind brought you here? What values you offer? She's a woman, a queen, a goddess. Don't treat her like any other."
A two-hour grief counseling session was held at the school Sunday afternoon and will be offered Monday to students and employees.
The officers involved in the case were placed on administrative leave and were receiving counseling from the Boston Police Department.