NEW YORK, July 23 (UPI) -- A 14-year-old New York boy is suspected of killing his mother, two sisters and a brother and slashing his own throat in an apparent murder-suicide, police said.
Investigators said they believe the teenager, C.J. Jones, used a straight razor to slit the throats of his sisters Melonie, 7, and Brittney, 10, set the family apartment on fire, then slit his own throat, the Staten Island (N.Y.) Advance reported Friday.
The fire killed the boy's 2-year-old brother, Jermaine Jones, and the children's mother, Leisa Jones, 32.
The blaze forced 12 other tenants to flee the apartment complex on Staten Island just after 4 a.m. Thursday, officials said.
Officials said an investigation of the scene led to the belief that it was a murder-suicide. Investigators discovered the two sisters with their throats slit, and a razor beneath the boy's body. Investigators said the bodies of the mother and toddler were too badly burned to determine if their throats also were cut, the Advance said.
Sources told the New York Daily News the razor came from mother's hairstyling kit.
"We believe the fire was intentionally set and our investigation is continuing," fire department spokesman Steve Ritea said.
C.J. Jones had a history of setting fires, said Paul Browne, another fire department spokesman. Neighbors told investigators they saw the youth lighting paper outside his apartment recently and that he was asked to leave a swimming pool Wednesday for starting a fire on the grounds.
UPI
