RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. ? A 15-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting his older sister at their family's rural Arkansas home was being held on a $750,000 bond after an initial court appearance Tuesday, and formal murder charges are expected by the end of next week, authorities said.
Prosecutor David Gibbons said he plans to charge the boy as an adult "because of the nature of the crime," but declined to elaborate. The boy hasn't been identified because of his age and his court hearing was closed to the public. The judge even forced his aunt and uncle out of the courtroom, leaving the boy to stand alone before the judge, Gibbons said.
The boy was appointed a public defender, who didn't immediately return a phone message seeking comment. His next court date is March 1.
Authorities said the boy showed up at the local sheriff's department on Sunday morning and told investigators that he had shot and killed his 16-year-old sister at their home near Ozark, a town roughly 120 miles northwest of Little Rock with about 3,600 residents. Franklin County Sheriff Anthony Boen said Tuesday that authorities were still awaiting preliminary autopsy results.
Boen said the boy appeared remorseful and had tears in his eyes when he turned himself in.
"He just said that he had just shot and killed his sister," Boen said. "He didn't give a motive."
The teen likely killed his sister sometime after 8 a.m. Sunday, when his parents left to go grocery shopping in Fort Smith, about 40 miles away, Boen said. The boy turned himself in at the sheriff's department about 90 minutes later.
Investigators confiscated multiple guns from the family's home and vehicle, and were trying to determine which weapon had been used in the shooting. The sheriff said the boy and his father were avid hunters.
Gibbons said formal charges could be filed this week or next week.
"Certainly with a 15-year-old suspect, we're going to expedite it as much as we can but we still have to have a complete and thorough report," Gibbons said. He said the hearing was held in Russellville, about 50 miles from the boy's home, because the local judge overseeing the case was working there Tuesday.
At the family's home, a wreath with purple and gold flowers hung at the end of a long gravel driveway leading to the house. A young man who came out of the home said the family wasn't ready to talk about what happened. He said he and an older woman who stood silently at his side were related to the siblings, then walked back into the home without giving their names.
Grief counselors were on hand Tuesday at Ozark High School, where the sister was a sophomore basketball player and the boy is in ninth grade, superintendent Jim Ford said. Ford declined to talk about the siblings' relationship or whether they had problems at the school, saying the family asked him not to discuss it.
"Our kids are hurting and this poor family is suffering," Ford said. "It's been a pretty tough day."
He wouldn't talk about how long the siblings had been enrolled at the school, but said the halls were quiet when students trickled back in after the long holiday weekend. The school's basketball games were canceled.
Inside the high school, another bouquet of purple and gold flowers ? the school's colors ? sat atop a receptionist's desk along with a ribbon bearing the sister's number, 42. The Associated Press is withholding the girl's name to not identify her brother, since he has not been formally charged.
"Praying For The Lady Hillbillies" and the siblings' family, a note near the flowers read, referring to the school's mascot. It was signed, "With Our Deepest Sympathy, The Shiloh Lady Saints," the team that the girls' basketball squad had been scheduled to play Tuesday.
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Associated Press writer Jill Bleed contributed to this report from Little Rock.
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