An Oregon tribe is mourning the deaths of two teen sisters who were shot and killed by a 20-year-old man after their father caught him hiding in a bedroom at their home, authorities said.
Elijah Albert Qinkade Croy, 20, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and unlawful use of a weapon.
Aleeka Qualls, 19, and Zion Qualls, 14, were shot at the Klamath Falls home after Croy first attempted to kill the girls’ father, Tashka Qualls, according to court records.
Croy reportedly told police that he had assembled a Glock-style handgun from parts ordered online.
Police were called to the home just before 8am on June 29 and heard gunshots. They arrested Croy “within a few feet of two homicide victims,” a Klamath Falls Police Department officer wrote in a probable-cause statement filed in court.
The Qualls sisters were Klamath tribal descendants, the Klamath Tribes said in a statement, adding that they are in “deep mourning” after the shocking double homicide.
“The Klamath Tribes has continued to experience an unprecedented amount of violent crime, and many of these crimes do not appear to be properly investigated, prosecuted, and addressed,” the Klamath Tribes Council said in a statement. “This most recent murder must be immediately and fully investigated, holding any and all criminals accountable for their crimes.”
The girls’ grieving father thanked the community for their outpouring of support. “There are no words to express how I feel about the loss of my daughters and the love that I feel from our community,” Qualls said. “This has shattered me to the core, and I never want anyone to have to feel the pain that I am feeling at this time.”
The girls’ mother, Crystal Davis, “is not doing well at all,” her sister Courtney Franklin told HuffPost.
In the first four months of 2024, nearly 5.5. million firearms were purchased in the US with 146,034 bought in Oregon. Oregon had the fourth-highest rate of guns per capita in 2023, according to the report.
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