Sheriff: Michigan Man Shot Wife, Sons Before Self

COREY WILLIAMS

COLUMBUS TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — If Phillip Parsons was having financial or other troubles, he didn't let on to his friend, Russ Whittaker, as they cut trees or talked about high school sports.

"Great people. Great people," Whittaker said Monday, shaking his head at the news that Parsons and his family had been found dead just a stone's throw across the road.

St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon said Monday the deaths are being investigated as three murders and a suicide. Parsons, 35, an out-of-work truck driver, was found dead on his bedroom floor with a single gunshot to his head. His wife, Gina Parsons, 34, was shot multiple times and found in the couple's bed. Parson's son, Sean, and his wife's son, Andrew Davis, were each shot once and found in their bedrooms.

The boys, both 14-year-old high school freshmen, were stepbrothers from the couple's previous marriages.

A relative concerned about the family called 911 about 8 p.m. Sunday, Donnellon said. Investigators believe the shootings took place late Saturday night or early the next morning in the rural community of Columbus Township, about 40 miles northeast of Detroit.