In a frantic 911 call from an upstairs bedroom, a hushed, panting Yvonne Ervin told a Gwinnett County dispatcher that her sons drugged, strangled and beat her and her husband — and that she didn't know why.
“I don’t know why they’ve done this, I really don’t,” she says in the 8-minute call released Tuesday, three days after the Saturday morning attack inside the family’s Snellville-area home. “I guess they have something, they want the insurance money, I’m not sure.”
She says her husband “made it to the garage,” and is trying to blow a car horn to get the attention of neighbors.
“They beat me up, they beat him up, they’re trying to kill us,” she says. “Please. Please.”
Christopher, 22, and Cameron Ervin, 17, were arrested after Gwinnett County police responded to the home on Forbes Trail, finding blood and broken furniture strewn throughout. Police believe the brothers also tampered with a gas line and tried to start a fire.
Their 50-year-old father, Zachary, was stabbed multiple times and hit in the head with a shotgun. Their mother, also 50, was found lying by her bed “seriously injured.” Both were rushed to the hospital, where Zachary Ervin remained Tuesday.
Christopher Ervin, meanwhile, was found lying face down in a second-floor bathroom. Cameron Ervin met arriving officers outside the home.
“I tried to kill my [expletive] parents,” he said while sitting in a squad car, according to an incident report. “Who does that.”
The Ervin brothers — neither of whom are believed to have a previous criminal record — were reportedly cooperative during their interviews with detectives, but have not provided a motive for their alleged actions. Police said Tuesday that it was apparent only that “the brothers launched a plot to kill both of their parents.”
There is no history of domestic calls at the residence, police said.
Christopher and Cameron Ervin are each charged with two counts apiece of aggravated assault and first-degree arson. They are scheduled for a probable cause hearing Friday afternoon at the Gwinnett County jail, where they are being held without bond.
In her 911 call, Yvonne Ervin repeatedly urges police to “please hurry.” She says her sons put the prescription drug Xanax in her and her husband’s drinks.
“We were asleep,” Ervin says. “I heard them say that they put Xanax in our drinks, that’s why we were so sleepy … That’s what they said after they started attacking us.”
Around the 5-minute mark, Ervin says she “just heard them say, ‘Where did mom go?’ ” She wails a few seconds later, and a male voice can be heard saying what sounds like, “You on the phone?”
Ervin tells the dispatcher her sons are taking her away. Then silence.
“Hello?” the dispatcher says.
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