Teh One Who Knocks
01-28-2014, 12:19 PM
By Joshua Gardner - The Daily Mail
http://i.imgur.com/V0MvURWm.jpg
A father and his teenage son were gunned down in their Oklahoma home in the pre-dawn hours of January 20 and police say it was the 18-year-old son and brother of the victims, with the help of a foursome of co-conspirators, who committed the heinous crime.
Authorities originally believed Thorsten Rushing of Lawton, Oklahoma was an unwitting witness to the murders of his family members but now believe the teen masterminded the cold-blooded murder of his father Uwe Rushing, 50, and little brother Stefan, 14.
Police arrested Rushing on Saturday. Also hauled in were his high school classmates Ethan Thompson, 19, Cody Davis, 19, Timothy Delahoy, 18, and Wesley Bankston, 17.
The arrests shocked the comfortable town perched between Wichita Falls and Oklahoma City and came after a week of arduous detective work from the Lawton Police Department.
But before they could uncover their suspects, police say they had to see past the false claims of a supposedly grieving young man.
Police first responded to a call at the home on East Columbia just after 2am on Monday, January 20.
There, Thorsten claimed he'd been watching television when two masked intruders forced their way inside and opened fire.
http://i.imgur.com/PAjFKYP.png
In their wake lay the father and son.
Thorsten claimed he'd evaded the men and run off to get a shotgun before returning fire. The men fled, he said, leaving him unharmed.
Police likely had little reason not to believe the teen at first. Photos of the high school senior make him appear perfectly normal.
In one, he poses with a pretty girl in their marching band uniforms.
'From what we understand, they were smart kids,' Lawson police Captain Captain Craig Akard told KSWO on Monday. 'They were polite kids.'
In another Facebook photo, Thorsten smiles warmly alongside his date at the high school homecoming dance.
'Your (sic) half right,' he told a friend who called him a handsome devil. 'I may be somewhat handsome, but I am no devil. I am the nicest dude I know.'
http://i.imgur.com/pvXkxeo.png
But under the surface, police believe something must have been brooding.
The funeral visitation for Uwe and Stefan was held the Friday following their deaths.
By Saturday, police had arrested Thorsten and company.
KSWO reports that as many as eight detectives in the intervening week had painstakingly put the pieces together of what really happened after a string of interviews and working in concert with the medical examiners in Oklahoma City.
'We are confident that we know that the 18-year-old son is the shooter,' Akard said.
However, they say he had plenty of help getting to that point.
And it could have happened sooner.
'Some of the boys were involved in the incident from Friday night. And from what we have figured out, something was supposed to happen that night. But when Mr. Rushing came out of the house unexpectedly, those plans had to be changed,' said Akard.
Police believe the attack was the end result of a double murder plot and that all five teens were involved to some degree.
And, police say, at least one of Thorsten's four friends were by his side when he pulled the trigger on his father and brother.
'We are still conducting interviews based on some statements that have been made in the last week or so,' Akard said. 'Especially the last couple of days. There are other people that we have identified that we need to talk to.'
While the authorities continued to put the pieces of this bizarre unthinkable and crime together, the Lawton community remained in shock.
'It has taken everybody by surprise,' Akard said. 'It has taken everybody by shock that knows them how this could have happened.'
A motive had yet to be released on Monday.
Police said they'd already uncovered several weapons over the course of their investigation, but were unsure which if any of them were the murder weapon.
Akard said they were prepared to have a case assembled and ready to present to the Comanche County District Attorney's Office within a couple of days.
http://i.imgur.com/V0MvURWm.jpg
A father and his teenage son were gunned down in their Oklahoma home in the pre-dawn hours of January 20 and police say it was the 18-year-old son and brother of the victims, with the help of a foursome of co-conspirators, who committed the heinous crime.
Authorities originally believed Thorsten Rushing of Lawton, Oklahoma was an unwitting witness to the murders of his family members but now believe the teen masterminded the cold-blooded murder of his father Uwe Rushing, 50, and little brother Stefan, 14.
Police arrested Rushing on Saturday. Also hauled in were his high school classmates Ethan Thompson, 19, Cody Davis, 19, Timothy Delahoy, 18, and Wesley Bankston, 17.
The arrests shocked the comfortable town perched between Wichita Falls and Oklahoma City and came after a week of arduous detective work from the Lawton Police Department.
But before they could uncover their suspects, police say they had to see past the false claims of a supposedly grieving young man.
Police first responded to a call at the home on East Columbia just after 2am on Monday, January 20.
There, Thorsten claimed he'd been watching television when two masked intruders forced their way inside and opened fire.
http://i.imgur.com/PAjFKYP.png
In their wake lay the father and son.
Thorsten claimed he'd evaded the men and run off to get a shotgun before returning fire. The men fled, he said, leaving him unharmed.
Police likely had little reason not to believe the teen at first. Photos of the high school senior make him appear perfectly normal.
In one, he poses with a pretty girl in their marching band uniforms.
'From what we understand, they were smart kids,' Lawson police Captain Captain Craig Akard told KSWO on Monday. 'They were polite kids.'
In another Facebook photo, Thorsten smiles warmly alongside his date at the high school homecoming dance.
'Your (sic) half right,' he told a friend who called him a handsome devil. 'I may be somewhat handsome, but I am no devil. I am the nicest dude I know.'
http://i.imgur.com/pvXkxeo.png
But under the surface, police believe something must have been brooding.
The funeral visitation for Uwe and Stefan was held the Friday following their deaths.
By Saturday, police had arrested Thorsten and company.
KSWO reports that as many as eight detectives in the intervening week had painstakingly put the pieces together of what really happened after a string of interviews and working in concert with the medical examiners in Oklahoma City.
'We are confident that we know that the 18-year-old son is the shooter,' Akard said.
However, they say he had plenty of help getting to that point.
And it could have happened sooner.
'Some of the boys were involved in the incident from Friday night. And from what we have figured out, something was supposed to happen that night. But when Mr. Rushing came out of the house unexpectedly, those plans had to be changed,' said Akard.
Police believe the attack was the end result of a double murder plot and that all five teens were involved to some degree.
And, police say, at least one of Thorsten's four friends were by his side when he pulled the trigger on his father and brother.
'We are still conducting interviews based on some statements that have been made in the last week or so,' Akard said. 'Especially the last couple of days. There are other people that we have identified that we need to talk to.'
While the authorities continued to put the pieces of this bizarre unthinkable and crime together, the Lawton community remained in shock.
'It has taken everybody by surprise,' Akard said. 'It has taken everybody by shock that knows them how this could have happened.'
A motive had yet to be released on Monday.
Police said they'd already uncovered several weapons over the course of their investigation, but were unsure which if any of them were the murder weapon.
Akard said they were prepared to have a case assembled and ready to present to the Comanche County District Attorney's Office within a couple of days.