Police are investigating whether a man accused of killing his mother and sister in Gwinnett County is linked to another death in Atlanta.
Jermaine Roby, 26, was found shot to death Friday in Norcross alongside his 55-year-old mother Josephine Roby-Skinner and 10-year-old sister Jasmyn Skinner. Both also had gunshot wounds, Gwinnett police Cpl. Deon Washington said.
Police responded to a call from the alleged shooter's father about a person shot about 4 p.m. in a house on the 700 Block of Pebble Creek Drive.
When they arrived, they found the three family members “unresponsive, not alert, not breathing and bleeding heavily,” according to a Gwinnett County police report.
Shell casings were scattered throughout the house, officers said in the report.
The father, Vernon Skinner, told police he had left his home about 3:45 p.m. for work when he got a call from his son urging him to return home because the daughter was sick.
“Skinner returned home to find his son lying in a pool of blood,” an officer said in the police report. “Then he rushed upstairs to find his daughter the same way.”
Skinner later found his wife as well.
He was not injured, according to the report.
Detectives are investigating the possibility that the son was the shooter, Washington said.
“However, that information is still being vetted and the final manner and cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner,” Washington said.
Police are also investigating whether Jermaine Roby may be linked to a shooting that happened about an hour before the fatal one in Gwinnett.
Quincy King, 40, was shot to death in a home on Northside Circle in Atlanta, according to Channel 2 Action News. Jermaine Roby was a person of interest in the case, the television station reported.
Both Atlanta and Gwinnett police are waiting for ballistics tests on the gun casings and bullets used in King's shooting to determine if Roby may be a suspect in that incident.
Gwinnett detectives also are working to determine what led to the Gwinnett shooting.
“By answering those difficult questions, our hope is that the impacted families will be able to grieve and begin healing,” Washington said.
Local clergy and a Critical Incident Stress Management team were contacted for relatives of the family.
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