Boy, 9, survives campground shooting that killed his parents and sister
A 9-year-old boy is the lone survivor of a triple homicide that killed both his parents and 6-year-old sister.
The bodies of Tyler and Sarah Schmidt, both 42, and their 6-year-old daughter, Lula Schmidt, were found early Friday at the Maquoketa Caves State Park Campground in Iowa.
The family, visiting the state park from Cedar Falls, were found dead in their tent. The Schmidts’ 9-year-old son, Arlo, ‘survived the attack, and is safe,’ Cedar Falls Mayor Rob Green wrote in a Facebook post.
The suspected gunman, Anthony Sherwin, a 23-year-old from Nebraska, was found dead by a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a wooded area of the park on Friday.
Authorities say the motive for the attack is still unknown, but that it appears to have been random.
Officials discovered the family’s bodies early Friday morning, just before 6.30am and ordered an evacuation of the park.
After the park was cleared, Sherwin, who was known to be armed, was missing. His body was located after an air search, in a wooden area not far from the campsite.
The Schmidt family were neighbors of their city’s mayor, who remembered Sarah Schmidt in a Facebook post as a ‘beloved employee’ at the local public library.
‘Like many of you just hearing the news, I’m devastated,’ Green wrote. ‘I knew Sarah well, and she & her family were regular walkers here in the Sartori Park neighborhood. I was just working with her this week on a public library tech presentation for July 26.’
Adam Morehouse, Sarah Schmidt’s brother, told the Associated Press that the family had no connection to the gunman and believed the attack was ‘completely random.’
Morehouse confirmed Arlo was on the family’s camping trip, but couldn’t say where the 9-year-old was at the time of the shooting.
‘He is with family and he is OK, but I have not had any interaction with him,’ Morehouse said. ‘As far as I know, he was uninjured physically.’
A GoFundMe for Arlo has raised over $181,000 in two days.
The deaths led to an evacuation of the state park, located about 60 miles east of Cedar Rapids. The park will be closed to the public until further notice, police said.
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