Siblings have a tendency to get involved in heated disputes with one another but the tale of family in Little Haiti, Florida is nothing short of tragic.
The family of 14-year-old Stephen Odeus and 16-year-old Stanley Blanc are now having to plan two funerals this week after the younger one shot and killed his older brother before turning the gun on himself in a murder/suicide ordeal. heir older brother, 18-year-old Mark Blanc initially broke them up before things escalated to deady proportions outside. The cause of the argument has been determined over clothes.
Via WSVN:
According to the family of 14-year-old Stephen Odeus and 16-year-old Stanley Blanc, the teens started fighting over clothes inside their apartment, located on Northeast First Avenue and 71st Street in Little Haiti, Sunday night. Their older brother, 18-year-old Mark Blanc, said he broke up his two younger siblings. “Everything cooled down for a second, but then it escalated outside,” said Mark.
Outside their apartment, Stephen and Stanley resumed their altercation, at which point, Mark said, the younger brother pulled out a gun and fired a shot, fatally striking his older sibling. “I ran outside, I got to the point of where [my brothers were fighting],” said Mark. “Right before my eyes, my brother shot my other brother.”
“I was an eyewitness, it happened right in my face,” Mark continued. “I was less than five feet away.”
The tragedy did not stop there. Shortly after witnessing Stanley’s fratricide, Mark heard another gunshot. “Then I heard my second brother die cause he shot himself,” he said.
Mark said he thinks his younger brother acquired the gun from a neighbor. He said he never saw Stephen with a firearm inside their home. “That’s blood, you know, nobody wants to kill their own brother,” he said.
Naturally their mother was inconsolable and so many questions remain. Is materialism within the culture and gun laws to blame?
View the gallery of the crime scene below and give us your thoughts on the matter in the comment section as well.
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Photos: WSVN, ABC
