A father accused of shooting his three young sons to death ‘ripped’ his three-year-old son from his mother’s arms, a court heard today as he was charged with murder.
Chad Dorman, 32, denied killing his sons Clayton, 7, Hunter, 4, and Chase, 3, at the Clermont County Courthouse in Ohio on Friday.
Prosecutor Mark Tekulvey told reporters outside court how Dorman ‘killed her three children in the most brutal fashion you can imagine’ with a rifle at their Monroe Township home on June 15.
‘My aim is to execute this man for slaughtering these three little boys,’ he said. ‘It is an understandably terrible thing that he has done to this family.’
Tekulve previously told the judge that Dorman ‘torn’ the 3-year-old from his mother’s arms and ‘shot him in the head.’ He said the father “shot the 7-year-old from behind” when he tried to escape and then fell, killing the helpless boy.
Chad Dorman, 32, entered Clermont County Common Pleas Court Friday for sentencing.
Dorman, who is believed to have planned the killing for at least three months, has been arrested and charged with aggravated murder. He was arraigned Friday and is now being held on $20 million bail. Photo: Three boys shot dead
The suspect’s 14-year-old stepdaughter (center) poses with her three brothers, who were executed by their father on June 15. The girl, who has not been named, ran for help screaming, ‘My stepfather is killing everyone in the house’.
Dorman admitted to planning the murder months earlier.
During the deadly shooting spree, Dorman’s wife, who has not been identified, was shot in the arm while trying to shield her children from the gunfire.
His 14-year-old daughter, who was not injured, ran down the street screaming, ‘My stepfather is killing everyone in his house.’
She now faces 21 counts: nine counts of aggravated murder and eight counts of kidnapping and four counts of assault in the June 15 deaths of her sons, according to Clermont County court records.
Tekulvey said Dorman first killed four-year-old Hunter, then shot seven-year-old Clayton after running into a backyard field, and then killed the youngest, 3-year-old Chase, ‘tearing him from his mother’s arms,’ WLWT-TV reported
He said his most important focus right now is making sure the family is safe and secure and can one day find peace.
“The evidence is clear and the presumption is great that he will be held without bail,” Tekulve said.
The judge then ordered Dorman held without bond. The next court date is set for July 5 for a pre-trial hearing.
Chad Dorman, 32, shot and killed his three sons, ages seven, four and three, in Monroe Township. A boy tried to escape into a nearby field but Dorman ‘hunted down’ his son and brought him back to their home before killing him, prosecutors said.
During Dorman’s arraignment Thursday, prosecutors described how he ‘preyed’ on a boy who ran away before bringing him back home and shooting him.
David Gast, chief prosecutor for Clermont County Municipal Court, called the murder the most heinous crime he had ever seen.
‘This was the man they woke up to every day looking for protection, love and guidance in everything.
‘He is their world, he is their guardian and he executes them in cold blood.’
According to the indictment, Dorman ‘willfully, and with premeditation and design, caused death [redacted names] In violation of the Ohio Revised Code, aggravated murder, an unclassified felony.’
The complaint alleges that Dorman had a Marlin Model HC.22 rifle with him at the time of the fatal shooting.
Chad C. Dorman had a firearm on his person or under his control during the commission of the offense and displayed the firearm, marked the firearm, indicated that he had the firearm or used it in furtherance of the offense’.
Officials have not released a motive for the killing, which happened in Monroe Township, about 75 miles west of Columbus.
His bail has been set at $20 million and he is currently being held in the Clermont County Jail.
Court records did not indicate whether a lawyer represented him at his deposition. The Clermont County public defender’s office declined to say whether they represent him.
The chilling 911 calls were released by the prosecutor’s office on Wednesday.
In one call, a frantic neighbor is heard telling a 911 operator that he saw a girl with blonde hair running down the street screaming ‘my stepdad is killing everyone in his house’.
In a separate call, the boys’ mother, 34, who was shot in the arm, was heard telling operators that her ‘kids were shot’.
The neighbor who called 911 told the operator he offered to pick up the girl in his car but the teenager refused, telling him she ‘couldn’t leave her family’ and running to a fire station.
The Clermont County Prosecutor’s Office told Newstimesuk.com they are not releasing the girl’s name.
The ranch-style blue shingle home where the shooting happened is in Monroe Township, about 75 miles west of Columbus.
Officials have not released a motive for the killing. Pictures of three innocent victims.
Deputies responded to a Monroe Township home shortly before 4:30 p.m. Thursday after receiving two 911 calls, one apparently from a mother who was yelling that ‘her kids were shot’ and another from a passing motorist who said a girl was running down the street. . A news release from the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office said her father was killing people.
Deputies found three boys outside the home with gunshot wounds and tried to save their lives, but the children died at the scene.
Police body camera footage shows the arrest of Chad Dorman, who was sitting on his front step when police arrived and shot his three sons, ages 7, 4 and 3.
Dorman updated his Facebook page to include this photo just six days ago. After his arrest, Dorman admitted to lining up his three young sons and shooting them one by one.
Haunting police bodycam footage shows the moment officers saw Dorman sitting calmly next to his rifle Thursday afternoon after executing his young sons.
He was taken into custody without incident after he was found on the steps of his Ohio property.
‘I’m not going to hurt anybody,’ Dorman told the arresting officers as he told them his dog wouldn’t bite them.
‘Shut up dude. You have the right to remain silent. Using it,’ a deputy tells him.
The sheriff’s office said the 34-year-old mother, who has not been identified, was outside the home and was shot in the hand while trying to protect her sons from their father.
He was taken to the hospital with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening.
‘They were holding these children that they couldn’t do anything,’ Gast said. ‘How can you see this kind of abomination?
‘This was the man that every day they woke up looking for protection, love and guidance in everything, …’ added Gast. ‘He is their world, he is their guardian and he executes them in cold blood.’
The sheriff’s office said there were no signs of forced entry at the home and investigators are not looking for any other suspects.
Dorman later admitted to lining up his three young sons and shooting them one by one, as his terrified daughter ran screaming that her father was ‘killing everybody,’ prosecutors said Friday.
He is also accused of shooting the boys’ mother in the hand. She has been charged with felony murder for the deaths of her children.
Officials have not released a motive behind the shootings.
Doerman’s father, Keith Doerman, 59, said he and his wife are ‘still trying to understand’ how their son could kill his own sons, but added they have ‘no answers.’ ‘He snapped,’ said Keith.
‘Something was happening in his life that he could no longer handle. I can’t talk to him, they won’t let me talk to him so I have no answer. He’s probably hiding a lot from me.’
Chad’s father said he visited his son last week.
“He seemed fine,” Keith Dorman said. ‘He was a funny and funny man.’
She emphasized that Chad has no criminal history or any mental illness. Chad was once charged in a 2010 domestic violence incident, during which he allegedly choked his father.
However, the case was dismissed when Keith Dorman failed to appear as a prosecution witness.
The elder Dorman told the Post that the account recorded by the Cincinnati Enquirer was incorrect and that ‘the judge dismissed the case.’
Just days before their gruesome deaths, Dorman appears to have changed his Facebook profile picture to a picture of his three young sons.
He has also posted several pictures of himself with his boys in recent days. On June 11, a photo showed Dorman with his three sons all giving a thumbs up.
‘Grandma loves this picture,’ said a woman named Gloria Dorman.
A friend painted a slightly different picture of the suspect. ‘He was in a bad mood, really bad. I think he was ready for a bombshell,’ friend Mark Holland told The Messenger.
A neighbor, Richard Kincannon, echoed that sentiment in a separate interview with WCPO.
‘He was angry every day. There wasn’t a day that went by that he wasn’t there yelling at his wife and kids,’ Kincannon said.
The day before the scare, the president of the baseball league where the boys played said he had seen the family.
He was asking the boys to sit in the car seat. Be careful. You didn’t mind. Just casual conversations with other families at the ball field,’ Christine Bennett told WLWT.
However, their team’s assistant coach, Brandon Allen, called the brothers ‘unbelievable kids’.
‘We are told these children were talented athletes and loved baseball. Their coach remembers these incredible kids. You can’t help but think of all the memories you have,’ Allen said.
‘They were good boys. They were good boys. They loved playing ball, which is what you want in a young lad you coach,’ he added.
A GoFundMe set up for the family and the boys’ burial expenses has raised $251,000, surpassing their initial goal of $20,000.
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