CAMBRIDGE, Ohio -- The Guernsey County Sheriff’s office says a father fatally shot his 5-year-old son before turning the gun on himself in an apparent murder-suicide, Wednesday.
According to the sheriff’s office, deputies responded to a home on Piedmont Road, in Cambridge, to perform a well-being check on Russell Ball, 36, at about 3:47 p.m. Wednesday after 5-year-old Jacob failed to show up for school Wednesday morning.
Arriving deputies found Ball and his 5-year-old son, Jacob, deceased inside the home.
Detectives say Russell shot and killed his son with a 20-guage shotgun before turning the gun on himself. They said that Ball had texted the boy’s mother Tuesday night, threatening suicide.
Ball had allegedly threatened to commit suicide before. He was unemployed and he and his wife had separated the day after Christmas.
“At some point in time [Ball] expressed the intent of potential suicide. [His estranged wife] didn’t think anything of it because he had made those comments in the past, and then never acted on it. She had no reason to believe he was going to act on this one,” said Sheriff Michael McCauley.
Teachers and staff members at Beechcroft Headstart, where Jacob attended school, said Russell was well known and he had even recently inquired about a job as a bus driver.
"He was a very involved dad. He loved his child he came to fatherhood activities. We had just last week 'Donuts With Dad', and he was in the classroom," said center director Kay Davis.
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