POSTED: 8:42 am EST November 29, 2009
UPDATED: 11:21 pm EST November 30, 2009
FOUNTAIN INN, S.C. -- Laurens County deputies have arrested a man in connection to a double homicide that they said happened early Sunday.
Sheriff Ricky Chastain told News 4 that the shooting happened at a home on Allen Bridge Road at about 4 a.m. Investigators found two bodies inside the Fountain Inn home.
Chastain said Gentry O'Neil Chapman called 911 and told dispatchers that he had killed his wife and stepson.
The victims were identified as 31-year-old Amanda Chapman and Ashton Arnold, who would have turned 17-years old Sunday. Investigators said the boy was found in his bed, shot in the face. The woman was found in the bathroom, shot in the head.
Arnold was a sophomore at Hillcrest High School in Simpsonville where he had just earned a post on the varsity basketball team.
"He was kind of filling out his role," said Reggie Choplin, coach of the basketball team and assistant athletic director at Hillcrest. "We had big plans for him."
On Monday, students at Hillcrest left handwritten messages on sheets of banner paper which were posted at the school.
"He was a like a brother to me," said Marquiz Evans, who had known Arnold since elementary school. "He just wanted to go somewhere with his life -- either with sports or out of sports."
Choplin said many teammates and classmates had so many unanswered questions about Arnold's death.
"Our kids are strong and resilient and they have handled adversity well in the past," said Choplin. "We'll help them through this and they will help us. As time passes, hopefully, we'll be able to deal with it and move on."
Investigators are still trying to determine what led to the shootings.
"Originally, (Chapman) was saying he was protecting himself from them," Chastain said. "But I think as the story goes on, we're finding that there was probably some sort of argument with his wife, which led to him shooting her."
Chastain said investigators did not find any other firearms inside the home. The sheriff also said two other children, ages eight and 12, were home when the shooting happened. Chapman brought the children with him when he turned himself in to the Fountain Inn Police. The children are now in protective custody with the Department of Social Services.
A woman who identified herself as a cousin of Arnold said, "He was the most gorgeous, sweetest person I ever met. I mean, he did things for people. He helped people."
A crime scene team from the State Law Enforcement Division will help investigators process the scene.
Chapman appeared before a magistrate at the Laurens County Detention Center Monday afternoon. He was formally made aware of the charges against him -- including two counts of murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
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