Idaho man charged with murder in shooting deaths of 4 neighbors, including 2 teens
A northern Idaho man has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary after prosecutors said he went to a neighbor’s home and shot and killed the family there, including two teens.
Majorjon Kaylor, 31, of Kellogg, was arrested Sunday night shortly after the shooting in the small mining community.
Killed were Kenneth Guardipee, 65; his daughter Kenna Guardipee, 41; and her sons, 18-year-old Devin Smith and 16-year-old Aiken Smith. The family lived in the same building as Kaylor.
If convicted, Kaylor could face the death penalty. He is being held without bond and has not yet entered a plea.
Few details have been released about the shooting, and authorities have not said what they believe Kaylor’s motive may have been.
But there had been a recent conflict between the families, police said: A week before the shootings, Kaylor’s family called police to complain that Devin Smith was standing in front of his bedroom window and masturbating in view of Kaylor’s young daughters, who were playing outside. Smith’s family lived in the bottom unit of the duplex, and Kaylor’s family lived in the top unit.
A judge entered not guilty pleas for the man charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in November.
The Kellogg Police Department recommended that Smith be charged with indecent exposure, a misdemeanor, Chief Paul Twidt said, and the prosecutor’s office told the officer who responded to the call that the charge would be filed. There was no record of the charge in the online court system Tuesday, however, which could mean that Smith had not been served with the formal charges before he died or that the case was not made public for another reason.
“We responded to the call, investigated the call, and the report was done that day and submitted to the prosecutor’s office for charges,” Twidt said. “I stand by what my officer did, and he did everything he could at the time. Nobody could have foreseen anything like this.”
During Kaylor’s initial court appearance, prosecuting attorney Benjamin Allen said the crime was “relatively horrific” and noted that one of the victims was a child. He also said Kaylor admitted the killings when he was interviewed by police.
“Admissions were ultimately made to the offenses charged,” Allen told Shoshone County Magistrate Judge Keisha Oxendine during Tuesday’s court proceeding.
Authorities say a key piece of evidence in the case of four college students stabbed to death in Idaho in November came from surveillance video.
The county dispatch center received a 911 call around 7:20 p.m. Sunday indicating that multiple people had been killed. Law enforcement officers found four people dead of gunshot wounds, and they detained Kaylor.
“This is a tragic situation that will affect the Kellogg community. Detectives continue working to establish a timeline and what led to the shooting,” Lt. Paul Berger, a detective with the Idaho State Police, said in a statement Monday.
The charging documents allege that the shootings of the two oldest victims were “premeditated and/or to execute vengeance.” The other killings were allegedly “premeditated, to executive vengeance, and/or committed in the perpetration of burglary,” according to the charging documents. Under Idaho law, it is considered burglary to enter a house, room or apartment with the intent to commit a felony such as murder.
A preliminary hearing in the case has been set for July 3.
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