Man Kills Wife and 11-Year-Old After Neighbor Complaints, Say Police

Police say that a man in South Carolina shot and killed an 11-year-old girl at his neighbor’s house, where he planned to “kill everybody.”

It was said that Reuben Arthur Leonard, 80, killed his 76-year-old wife Felicia Leonard and an 11-year-old girl named Ashly McFarland. He was charged with murder. On April 16, at 10:32 p.m., the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook that they were called to a home in Sumter, a place about 45 miles east of Columbia, because there had been gunshots. Leonard is said to have been the person who broke into his neighbors’ house and started “firing a weapon.”

The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office says Leonard was angry that his neighbors were shooting targets in their yard and called the cops several times to complain. Leonard is said to have gone into his neighbors’ house and opened fire a few days after filing a recent report.

Hampton Gardner, the chief deputy sheriff for Sumter County, told the press that Leonard broke into the house “home invasion style” while carrying a second gun and an assault rifle. Gardner says Leonard “struck and killed” Ashly, who died “right away.”

An online fundraising page says that Ashly’s dad was “also hit stopping [the attacker from shooting others].” Other family members at the neighbors’ house are said to have tackled Leonard to the ground and held him down until the police came.

Gardner told the news conference that there were “ten or eleven people” inside the house and that Leonard’s plan was to “kill everyone at that residence.” He also said, “It was stupid, unprovoked, and something like this should never happen.”

When police arrived, Leonard is said to have told them that he had also killed his wife, who was found dead in their basement with a gunshot wound.

Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis had said earlier, “This is a horrible event, and our investigators are working hard to find out all the details.”

Gardner told the press that Leonard had been calling the police on his neighbors for “a few weeks” because “the people on Floyd Drive were target practicing in their backyard.” This was in response to a question about the possible reason for the killing. He told them they weren’t breaking any rules and that they weren’t even close to Leonard’s property. Gardner said that no one else in the neighborhood had any problems with the target practice.

Local NBC affiliate WIS reported that Leonard was charged with breach of peace on April 14 after he got into several fights with his neighbors and called the cops on them.

It wasn’t clear to Gardner why Leonard was thought to have killed his wife. During the news conference, he said that Leonard did not have dementia or any other mental illness.

Leonard was hurt when his neighbors stopped him and was taken to the hospital to get treatment. He was later booked into Sumter-Lee Regional Detention Center. Among the crimes he was charged with were two counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder. At his first court date on April 18, a judge said that he should be held without bond because the charges against him were so serious. He is said to have another meeting on June 6.