Ottawa County Sheriff - Ottawa County Deputy Sheriff Association

Suspect in custody in deaths of sheriff's deputy and her 2 young daughters in Georgia




Associated Press - February 29, 2008 7:13 AM ET

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) - Authorities have arrested a suspect in the shooting deaths of a sheriff's deputy and her two young daughters in Georgia.

Gwinnett County officer David Schiralli has confirmed that a suspect is in custody. He says he does not have details.

Authorities found the three dead at their home near Lawrenceville Thursday night.

Schiralli says officers went to the home where the shots were fired and found an 11-year-old dead inside the front door. Just inside, they found the deputy. The officers then went upstairs and found the 4-year-old.

The sheriff's department says the deputy had been with the department for seven years and was assigned to the Sex Offender unit.

A 17-year-old boy was arrested Friday and charged with killing his mother, who was a sheriff's deputy, and his two small sisters, authorities said.

Anthony Tyrone Terrell Jr. was charged with murder in the shooting deaths at the family home near Lawrenceville, where the bodies were found late Thursday, said police spokeswoman Illana Spellman. She identified the victims as Gwinnett County Sheriff's Deputy Joy Deleston, 39, and her two daughters, Micaiah, 11, and Jelani, 4.

The motive for the killings was still under investigation, Spellman said.

Deleston, a seven-year veteran of the department, was assigned to the Sex Offender unit, officials said.

Police had gone to the subdivision because a caller reported shots had been fired, officer David Schiralli said earlier. They found a bullet hole in a house, then checked next door because they knew a deputy lived there.

"There was no answer, but lights were on," Schiralli said. "They opened the door a little bit to announce themselves." That was when they discovered the bodies, he said.

The 17-year-old son arrived at the house about 35 minutes later, he said. Spellman said he was arrested after talking to investigators, but didn't elaborate.