It was reported that a former soldier fatally shot three sleeping children inside their home before turning the gun on himself Tuesday night, according to police at South Carolina.
Charles Slacks Jr., 42, also shot and killed another soldier, 38, who worked with his ex-wife during the disturbing murder-suicide. According to Sumter Police Chief Russell Roark during a Wednesday press conference, the woman witnessed her ex-husband shoot the fellow service member before he shoved past her to kill the kids, ages 5, 6, 11.
“Little children were sleeping in the comfort of their own bed.During the panicked moments, the woman rushed to use the slain soldier’s phone because hers was upstairs charging, When she heard gunshots from inside the home, she rushed and saw her husband at the top of the staircase right before he killed himself, ”Roark said. 
“Anybody who has children — anybody who has empathy toward a child dying so violently could understand how that mother is feeling,” the police chief said.The mother, Aletha Holliday, and Slacks shared two children, according to court records but It is unknown whether the third child belonged to Slacks.
State Sen. Thomas McElveen, who represents Sumter, led the state Senate in a moment of silence.“As a father, I am absolutely nauseated up here talking about it,” the Democrat and father of three said. In a tweet, he called the tragedy an “evil, tragic, and unthinkable act.”
Both Slacks and the killed soldier were both assigned to US Army Central at Shaw Air Force Base, the Army according to her LinkedIn profile.
The slain soldier who worked with the children’s mother had no relationship with her outside of their jobs and it’s unclear why Slacks visited the home to carry out his bloody slaying. He still had a key to the home when he arrived around 10:30 p.m.The slain soldier’s identity has not been revealed as authorities track down his next of kin.
Slacks worked in ammunition logistics at the Air Force base as a Defense Department civilian, and served in the Army from 1999-2006, Military while two of the kids attended an elementary school in the county and the other child went to middle school, Sumter school system officials said.
