A “monster” teenager shot dead his father and then executed his mother at point-blank range in front of police before dying in a police shootout.
Police say they received a call shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday from a woman, later identified as Rebecca Ann Themelis, 48, informing them that her husband, Christos Byron Themelis, 51, had been shot. .
More gunshots were heard while on the phone with the dispatch center, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office reports.
When officers arrived at the home on Cactus Wren Place in Tampa, Florida, they found the suspect, 19-year-old Christos Alexander Themelis, and his mother, Rebecca, outside.
As deputies watched in horror, the suspect shot his mother in the back of the head and began shooting at the deputies, wounding one deputy, the sheriff’s office said.
Police responded to a Tampa home shortly after 11 pm Saturday when a woman reported that her husband had been shot.
Dramatic body camera footage captured the confrontation between Christos Alexander and officers, beginning when they arrived at the scene and found him outside with his mother.
“Show me your hands, show me your damn hands,” Officer Shane McGough, 26, was heard shouting.
He then pleaded with Rebecca to “get out of the house now” and walk towards him, gun in hand before radioing: “He’s got her at gunpoint.”
‘Listen, we don’t want to hurt you, just let your mom walk towards us, let her walk towards us, okay?’ McGough tells the suspect, repeating his instructions to “keep your hands up” and “don’t touch behind your back.”
As the son apparently retreats to go grab his gun, McGough once again pleads with the mother to “walk towards me, walk towards my flashlight.”
Then, when Christos Alexander returns with the gun, he pleads, “Ma’am, get away from him now and come here.”
Seconds after pleading with the suspect to “stop putting his hand in her waistband,” gunshots can be heard on body camera footage as both sides exchange gunfire.
McGough was hit in the leg, shouted “I’ve been hit” to his fellow officers and asked for a tourniquet.
Dramatic police body camera footage shows officers confronting shooter
Five deputies returned fire, causing the suspect to retreat home to the sheriff’s office. he said in a press release.
At that point, authorities deployed a SWAT team and officers used a robot to enter the home through the front door.
“Unfortunately, the first person we encounter on the ground is the father,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said at a news conference.
“The father had succumbed to his injuries.”
Police later found the suspect dead from injuries he suffered in the shooting in another room of the home.
Sheriff Chad Chronister suggested the situation could have been worse
But the situation could have been much worse, Sheriff Chad Chronister suggested.
“The monster we found this afternoon is responsible for not only injuring our helper but also killing his own mother and father,” he said in a statement.
‘Our officers responded to a chaotic scene and immediately put themselves in harm’s way to protect our community.
“Without the quick and skillful response of our officers, an entire neighborhood would have been in danger.”
None of the officers involved in the shooting had a history of using force, the sheriff’s office added.
Deputy McGough is now in stable condition and underwent surgery Sunday to remove the bullet and insert a rod into his leg to help regrow the tibia, which was fractured in the shooting.
Officer Shane McGough, 26, was shot in the leg during a confrontation with the teenage gunman.
Authorities said the incident was not the first time police had been called to the Tampa home.
Officers have responded to incidents at the home 10 times before, and most are related to mental health services and violence against the suspect’s parents, Chronister said at the news conference.
He noted that there was also an active risk protection order against the 19-year-old, which led officers to confiscate his weapons.
Investigators are now working to determine how Christos Alexander could have obtained the gun if he was deemed “mentally unfit.”
“We don’t know exactly and we may never know why he became so violent,” Chronister said.
“But we do know that inflicting harm on another human being, no matter what the reason, is never okay.” Period.’
