The man accused of shooting and killing two people in Rhode Island before fleeing the scene and being shot and killed by police had been caught peeping into a 15-year-old girl's bedroom with a ladder the previous night, police say.
Wednesday's triple shooting on Ligian Court in Johnston led to the death of two adults and the injury of a 15-year-old girl who is expected to survive.
One victim was found in the suspect's home and another in a neighbor's home on Wednesday morning, police said. Johnston police told WJAR they had responded to 2 Ligian Court on Tuesday night after a father said he caught his neighbor, 52-year-old James Harrison, outside of his daughter's bedroom with a ladder.
The father, identified by police as 44-year-old Thomas May, called police after Harrison ran back to his residence at 4 Ligian Court. Johnston police said the father asked to file a no trespass order against Harrison, but the officer couldn't locate Harrison and left the scene.
Around 7:30 a.m. the next morning, the same officer returned to 4 Ligian Court to issue the no trespass notice and saw Harrison leaving in a dark blue Buick Encore. The officer said Harrison made a hand gesture toward him consistent with shooting a gun.
The officer then saw the 15-year-old girl, later identified as May's daughter, lying on the ground at 2 Ligian Court with gunshot wounds and stopped to help. May was found dead in the garage of a fatal gunshot wound to the head.
The girl identified the shooter as Harrison, and police issued a be on the lookout notice.
At Harrison's home on 4 Ligian Court, police found Harrison's mother, 83-year-old Janet Harrison, also dead of a fatal gunshot wound to the head.
About two hours later, an off-duty police dispatcher spotted Harrison seated in his vehicle at St. Ann Cemetery in neighboring Cranston. Multiple Cranston police officers responded to the cemetery and when they arrived the suspect drove at them head-on, nearly striking their vehicles.
Harrison then drove the wrong way on Plainfield Pike in Cranston during a pursuit, swerved at several police vehicles and struck one, police said. The driver then jumped the median and struck a rock, disabling his vehicle.
Police shot Harrison when he got out the vehicle brandishing a gun at officers. Several police officers were hospitalized but none were seriously injured.
The state attorney general's office is investigating law enforcement's use of deadly force, which is standard protocol, an office spokesperson said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
