On Monday, nineteen-year-old James Glass of Long Beach, Mississippi, was engaged to the love of his life, 19-year-old Stacy Lee, of Gulfport. Not only were the two set to be married, they were also expecting the birth of their first child. Today, James and Stacy are dead. No wedding, no child, and no life to look forward to. All of that was stolen from them on Tuesday, when Stacy's stepfather shot them dead, along with Stacy's sister, 17-year-old Sherry Lee, in an apparent murder-suicide.
The Harrison County Sheriff's Department received an emergency 911 call at approximately 3:22 a.m., Tuesday, from a female caller who said that her stepfather, 50-year-old Walter Ferri, was holding a gun on her mother inside their Andre Drive home. As officers were dispatched to the scene, a second 911 call was received from the female caller at 3:37 a.m., notifying the dispatcher that someone had been shot. Further details from that conversation have not yet been released.
Details remain sketchy. However, at some point during the incident, the girls' mother, Sonja Ferri, managed to crawl out of a window in the back of the home and ran for help. Shortly thereafter, roughly 12 minutes after the first 911 call was received, five sheriff's deputies arrived on the scene. Aware there was an armed suspect inside, but unaware of the current situation, the deputies maintained their distance while attempting to negotiate with Walter Ferri.
When deputies failed to make any progress with Ferri, they ordered him to come out of the house with his hands up. The time was 4:40 a.m. In response to their demands, Ferri yelled out, "No, I'm going to kill myself." Moments later, a single gunshot rang out.
When deputies entered the home, they discovered Ferri's body slumped on the floor, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A revolver and handgun lay close by. In the living room, deputies found the lifeless body of James Glass. As they made their way to the back of the home, the smell of gunpowder still lingering in the air, deputies found the bodies of Stacy and Sherry inside a bathroom.
"One sister was laying up against the bathtub, and the other sister was laying on top of her," Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove told WLOX.com.
When recounting the scene to the media, deputies later said it appeared as though the sisters were attempting to hide when they were shot and that they had been huddling together in an apparent attempt to protect and comfort each other.
It remains unclear what drove Ferri to murder his stepchildren and James Glass. Police have said that the incident started as a domestic dispute but have yet to provide further details.
According to Sherry's MySpace.com profile, her biological father is dead. However, the profile offers no explanation. In the "About Me" section she wrote:
"My name is Sherry Renee Lee. My birthday is August 16, 1990...I love my family and friends and I spend most of my time with them. I'm really down to earth and everyone says I'm funny."
James also has a profile on MySpace. In it he described himself as a "blue-eyed southern guy." In the "About Me" section of his profile, he wrote:
"I'm James. I have a wonderful girlfriend, Stacy! She means the world to me! We're engaged!"
As with her sister and boyfriend, Stacy also has a profile on the social networking Web site, but she has it set to "private." Other than her photo, the only item visible is her profile's headline, which reads, "I never thought I could love someone sooooo much!!! I love you, James Gene Glass!!!" A little smiley face appears at the end of the sentence.
Police say at least seven shots were fired during the massacre. When discussing the case with Sunherald.com, Harrison County Sheriff Melvin Brisolara described it as "brutal...the worst, most sad crime I've ever seen."
In the coming weeks, the media will try to come up with a motive in the case, or at the very least they'll speculate and debate on what drove a seemingly sane person to commit such a brutal crime. We won't. Nothing can bring back the innocent lives that were taken by the selfish coward known as Walter Ferri. Case closed.