Police ID 3 Children, 2 Adults Dead In Sumter Shooting: Report

SUMTER, SC — Three children and two men were found dead Tuesday night following a shooting, Sumpter Police said in a Facebook post. One of the men found dead is the accused shooter, the department added.

The shooting occurred before 10:30 p.m. Tuesday on Whitetail Circle, where police found Command Sergeant Major Carlos Evans, 38, dying, and Aayden Holliday-Slacks, 5, Aaron Holliday-Slacks, 6, and Ava Holliday, 11, shot to death, officials told ArmyTimes. Charles Slacks Jr., the 47-year-old accused shooter, was also found dead after apparently taking his own life, officials said.

Charles Slacks Jr., a former soldier, is accused of killing the children as they slept, officials said. His other victim, Sergeant Major Carolos Evans, worked with the children’s mother and happened to be at the home, Sumter Police Chief Russell Roark said at a news conference Wednesday.

Evans, of Petersburg, Virginia, served as the senior enlisted leader for the command’s headquarters battalion at nearby Shaw Air Force Base, ArmyTimes reported. The command's top general, Lieutenant General Patrick Frank, called Evans an “outstanding leader and caring friend” in a statement shared with the outlet.

Slacks and the children's mother were divorced, but he still had a key to the home in Sumter and let himself in around 10 p.m. Tuesday, Roark said. He then shot the co-worker in the backyard as the mother tried to stop him, then pushed past her to go upstairs and shoot the children in their beds, the police chief said.

The Sumter School District is grieving the loss of three of its students, including two siblings who attended Millwood Elementary School and a third who attended Alice Drive Middle School, Superintendent William Wright said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.