Man kills his mother before turning the gun on himself, SC coroner says
A man made the grisly discovery of his mother and brother’s bodies following a murder-suicide, the Aiken County Coroner’s Office said.
Aiken County sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of the bodies at a home in the 500 block of Rennie Street late Friday afternoon, Coroner Darryl Ables said in a news release.
The victims, identified as 86-year-old Betty James and her son 68-year-old Joe James, died at the scene from single gunshot wounds, according to Ables.
An investigation shows that Joe James shot his mother then turned the gun on himself, Ables said.
Information about a motive for the shooting was not available.
There was no word if either Betty James, Joe James, or both lived at the Graniteville home that’s about 3 miles from the University of South Carolina Aiken campus.
An autopsy on Betty James will be performed in Newberry, but no autopsy is scheduled for Joe James, according to the release.
Both the sheriff’s office and coroner’s office are continuing to investigate the deaths.
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This story was originally published May 15, 2023 at 12:57 PM.
