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Last updated on Monday, July 14, 2014
(ELLETTSVILLE) - Authorities say an Ellettsville mother fatally shot her 15-year-old son to death before committing suicide.
The Monroe Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Brad Swain says the bodies of Parker Gilliland-Wampler and 46-year-old Carla Gilliland were found inside their burning home Thursday morning on in the 7300 block of North Red Hill Road at 8:40 a.m. Thursday. A gun was recovered within close proximity of the bodies.
Neighbors reported that Carla, had made comments about harming her son and herself. It is unclear why Carla made the comments.
"He was a very good kid, he's always been good at school, always did good in sports and everybody's loved him. He was a very popular kid around here," the neighbor said.
Monroe County Coroner Nicole Meyer has ruled Parker's death a homicide and Carla's death a suicide after autopsies were completed on Friday.
A neighbor told police the fire spread fast and that they attempted to get the homeowner's attention and called 911 around 8:30 a.m. while making desperate attempts to breaking into the house to alert the family.
"Grabbed as many rocks as we could, tried busting out windows so we could jump in, and when we broke them out, there was fire just rolling out of it," he said.
The neighbor says his father ran around hoping to kick in a back door.
"As he was doing that, I grabbed a big concrete flower pot and threw it through the side of the house," he said.
By that time, he says the fire got too much for his dad, and all efforts to get inside failed. It was too late.
"The fire got so hot that you couldn't stand 30 feet from it without it singing the hair off your head," the neighbor said.
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