Teen Indicted in Family Murder; Pastor Urges Forgiveness
A teenager charged with killing his entire family was indicted Monday on four counts of first-degree murder and for using a handgun in a violent crime.
Nicholas W. Browning, who turned 16 last week, is being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center where he is on "special watch," said Jim O'Neill, director of the county's corrections department and warden of the jail, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Browning, an honor student at Dulaney High School in Timonium, Md., and a Boy Scout, is accused of fatally shooting his parents, John W. Browning and Tamara Browning, and his two younger brothers, 14-year-old Gregory and 11-year-old Benjamin. The Brownings were slain in their Cockeysville home early Feb. 2.
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The 16-year-old student told police that he was playing video games at a friend's house late Feb. 1, a source familiar with the investigation said, as reported by The Baltimore Sun. He went home the next morning and found his family asleep. Browning told police he retrieved his father's handgun and shot his father, who was asleep on the couch, in the head. He then went upstairs and shot his mother and brothers. Browning said he tossed the gun in the woods and went back to play video games at his friend's house.
Possible motives for the murders have not yet been identified other than disagreements Browning had with his father, police have said.
The killings sent shockwaves to members of Epworth United Methodist Church in Cockeysville. The Brownings were active members of the church and Nicholas had created the church's prayer garden, according to the United Methodist News Service (UMNS).
No one at the church had any inkling that anything like this would ever happen, the Rev. Bill Brown said, as reported by UMNS. He said his congregation is filled with sadness, anger, disbelief as well as laughter as they share stories and remember the lives of the Browning family.
And all of them are asking "Why?"
"But in the midst of not knowing why, God is with us," said Brown.
"There are some things in life that we're never going to understand," he said. "But there is a God who cares for us. None of us are going through this alone."
After the tragic killings, Epworth church opened its doors for teens to gather, pray and talk. Brown said he sees God's presence "in the way people in the community are reaching out to one another, in the way people are treating one another, crying with one another, holding hands together. That's where God is at work."
A memorial service for the Brownings was held last Friday at nearby Trinity Assembly of God, where more than 1,200 people gathered and grieved the unexpected passing of their friends.
While Nicholas Browning's name was not mentioned at the service, the Rev. Brown said he has forgiven him and invited others to search in their hearts, reach out to God and think about forgiveness. Brown has visited and prayed with Nicholas at the detention center.
"Compassion is the key word. Everyone in this situation is a child of God," he said.
A decision is expected in about a week on whether to take Browning off special-watch status and whether to place him in protective custody or in the detention center's units for inmates under the age of 23.
