An Alabama mother is grieving two sons after a fight between the men turned into a murder-suicide before her eyes, investigators said.
Birmingham police officials said that Jeremiah Price, 24, and his brother, Dewayne Price, 22, were arguing in their apartment around 12:30 p.m. Thursday when the fight turned physical.
"The mom is heartbroken," Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper told AL.com. "She said they got to scuffling in the house and they got separated, and once they went outside, she heard the gunshot."
“She walked out there, and one son is lying on the ground, and the other son committed suicide right in front of her.”
Jeremiah Price shot his younger brother before killing himself, police officials said.
Roper said the brothers were apparently arguing over money one owed the other.
"It's really a tragedy that we have two brothers, arguing over money, one brother shoots the other and then commits suicide right there in front of the mother," Roper said at the scene Thursday. "The mother now has to deal with both sons being dead. It's a tragedy for the family and it's a tragedy for our community."
The police chief said it was “absolutely mind-boggling how cheap life has become,” even within a family.
“When it’s all over, both are lying there, side by side, dead in the front yard,” Roper said. “That’s not a police issue. That’s one that’s bigger than the police department. That’s a community issue and one that we won't solve just relying on the police department alone.”
Family and friends mourned the brothers on social media, where their mother, Consuelo Price, posted a photo captioned, “My boys. Brotherly love.”
The grieving mother also posted a link to a GoFundMe page she created on Sunday to raise money for her sons' funeral arrangements.
"This is to help bury my sons," Price wrote. "Whatever you can give will be greatly appreciated."
As of Monday morning, the fund had raised just $5.
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