*New details have emerged in the curious case of the Phoenix, Arizona man who shot and killed his wife and kids. As it turns out, Austin Smith, 30, committed the heinous act because he thought his wife was having an affair with his brother.
Smith is currently in custody for the murders of his wife Dasia Patterson and two of their three daughters, Nasha, five, and Mayan, seven.
He also killed family friend Ron Freeman, 46, while trying to intervene as Smith sought to kill her brother, the Daily Mail reports.
Smith confessed to officers to murdering all the victims because God told him to seek vengeance on the wicked.
He gunned down two of daughters because they reminded him of his wife. His three-year-old daughter was spared because, according to Smith, she reminded him of himself. The brother at the center of this tragedy was not harmed. It is unclear if he was home when Smith came looking for him to gun him down.
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According to a police affidavit, Smith encountered Freeman at an apartment building where he went looking for his brother. Freeman reportedly told Smith “he was crazy” before he was fatally shot.
Witnesses claim Smith reloaded his gun and “shot his victim several more times.” He then left and returned with a rifle, which he used to fire at the friends and family of the victim as they tried to attend to him. Luckily, no one was harmed.
Via Daily Mail:
The court document released later in the evening described Smith punching the eldest daughter, throwing her to the ceiling and onto the floor, then striking the child’s head several times with a baseball bat.
Patterson’s cousin said he doesn’t believe Dasia would cheat: ‘She’s not like that,’ he said. ‘Not like that at all.’
Officers with a warrant searched the car Smith was driving and found a 9mm handgun, a .45 caliber handgun and a .223 caliber rifle they believe were used in the shootings, according to the probable cause statement.
Smith’s Bail has been set at $2 million.
