According to police, on Tuesday, March 21 a former soldier went to his ex-wife’s house and shot a military man and three children before turning the gun on himself.
According to Sumter Police Chief Russell F. Roark, Charles Slacks Jr, a former military man, entered his ex-wife’s home in Sumter, South Carolina, around 10 pm on Tuesday, using a key he had from when they were still together.
Slacks saw his ex-wife’s co-worker in her backyard and shot him dead before going upstairs to where the three children were sleeping, with his ex following him closely behind.
According to the police chief, she knew her phone was upstairs but she couldn’t get to it. Slacks pointed the gun at her, and she fled the house to the backyard to call for help on her coworker’s phone. The woman couldn’t find the man’s phone, and she didn’t have to wait long before hearing shots upstairs being fired.
Her ex-husband had just killed all three children before taking his own life at the top of the stairs.
Aason Holliday Slacks, 6, Aayden Holliday Slacks, 5, and Ava Holliday, 11, were identified as the children. The co-worker victim was identified as 38-year-old Command Sergeant Major Carlos Evans.
Slacks was Ava’s stepfather as well as the biological father of Ava’s two younger brothers.
According to the police, the victim, Evans, was also a military member, and he and Slack’s ex-wife were simply work colleagues, not lovers.
Slacks started working as a tracked vehicle mechanic in 1999 and left that employment in 2007. He worked as a civilian at the US Army Central. Evans was also connected to US Army Central.
Sumter has a strong military presence thanks to the nearby Shaw Air Force Base, where the US Army Central relocated in 2011.