A man shot his mother to death in McLean yesterday, then headed for a secluded house in Great Falls, where he killed three more people before taking his own life, law enforcement sources said. The Christmas morning killings appeared to be the deadliest outbreak of violence in Fairfax County in many years.
There was no immediate information on a motive in the killings, police said, although all of those involved appeared to be acquainted with one another. The gunman "did know the people involved," a police spokesman said.
"It is bizarre," Officer Richard Henry said. "It's just a weird thing."
Law enforcement sources attributed the killings to Nathan Cheatham, 27, who, according to property records, had an apartment in the house where his mother, Sheila Cheatham, 53, lived, in the 8500 block of Lewinsville Road.
Those killed at the Great Falls home, which is in the northwest corner of Fairfax near the Loudoun County line, were identified only as two men and a woman. Their relationships to each other and to Nathan Cheatham could not be learned last night.
After his mother's shooting, Nathan Cheatham apparently drove to the 10700 block of Sycamore Springs Lane, possibly arriving in a pickup, according to law enforcement sources.
The shootings inside the Great Falls house, which apparently was being rented, occurred about 10:25 a.m., a police spokesman said. Along with the three people, a Labrador retriever was slain, police said. Another Lab in the house was not injured, police said.
Police were called. After they arrived, one man, identified only as being 20 years old, ran from the house, police said. He apparently was unharmed. Police said he is not a suspect.
While officers were outside barricading the house, Cheatham apparently shot himself to death inside, a law enforcement source said.
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