Two people were shot dead and another wounded by a Rhode Island man accused of peeping into a teenage girl’s bedroom window.
James Harrison, 52, was later shot and killed by police after a chase and standoff with law enforcement in Johnston County, according to authorities.
Officials say that Harrison’s 83-year-old mother, Janet Harrison, who lived with him in Johnston, was one of the victims, reported WPRI.
Also fatally shot was his neighbour, 44-year-old Thomas “TJ” May, while his 15-year-old daughter was shot and taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police say they were initially called to the May family home on Tuesday night after a report of loud banging noises outside a bedroom window.
Harrison was allegedly seen outside the window with a ladder, and Mr May sought to file a trespass order to keep him off the family’s property, reported WPRI.
The police were unable to make contact with Harrison and returned at 7.30am the following morning to speak to him.
The officer said that when he arrived at the home he was the suspect driving away making a hand gesture “consistent with shooting a firearm”, the police stated.
ONLY ON 10:
— Cal Dymowski WJAR (@CalDymowski) May 24, 2023
Security video from a Johnston auto shop on Plainfield Pike captured some of today’s police response/pursuit.
You can see dozens of officers en route. @NBC10 https://t.co/wL2DlstTBL pic.twitter.com/r1sAHF2k8Q
The teenage girl was then found on the front lawn suffering from gunshot wounds, and May was found in the garage of the property with a gunshot wound to the head.
When police entered Harrison’s home they found that his mother had also been killed.
Harrison was spotted two hours later at a cemetery and following a police chase he crashed his vehicle into a large rock. He then got out of the vehicle and pointed a firearm at officers who shot him dead.
Rhode Island State Police and the state’s Attorney General’s Office will be investigating the officer-involved shooting.
