A father accused of gunning down his three young sons ‘ripped’ his three-year-old boy from his mother’s arms, a court heard today as he was indicted for murder.
Chad Doerman, 32, denied murdering his sons Clayton, 7, Hunter, 4, and Chase, 3, at the Clermont County courthouse in Ohio on Friday.
Prosecutor Mark Tekulve told reporters outside the courtroom how Doerman ‘slaughtered his three children in the most brutal fashion you can imagine’ with a rifle at their home in Monroe Township on June 15.
‘My goal is to have this man executed for slaughtering these three little boys,’ he said. ‘It is an incomprehensible act of horror that he perpetrated on this family.’
Tekulve earlier told the judge that Doerman ‘ripped’ the 3-year-old from his mother’s arms and ‘put a bullet in his head.’ He said the father ‘gunned down’ the 7-year-old ‘from behind’ as he tried to flee and then executed the helpless boy when he fell.
Chad Doerman, 32, enters the Clermont County Common Pleas courthouse to be arraigned, Friday
Doerman, who is thought to have planned the killings for at least three months, has been arrested and charged with aggravated murder. He was arraigned on Friday and is now being held on $20 million bail. Pictured: The three boys shot dead
The suspect’s 14-year-old stepdaughter (center) pictured with her three brothers, who were gunned down execution style by their father on June 15. The teen, whose name was not disclosed, ran to get help screaming, ‘my stepfather is killing everybody in the house’
Doerman confessed to plotting the murders months in advance.
During the deadly shooting rampage, Doerman’s wife, who was not identified, was shot in the hand while trying to shield her children from the gunfire.
Her 14-year-old daughter, who was not injured, ran down the road screaming, ‘my stepfather is killing everybody in her house.’
He now faces 21 counts: nine counts of aggravated murder and 8 counts of kidnapping and four counts of felonious assault for the June 15 deaths of his sons, according to Clermont County court records.
Tekulve said Doerman killed four-year-old Hunter first, then shot seven-year-old Clayton after he ran into a field behind the home, and then killed youngest, 3-year-old Chase, ‘ripping him from his mother’s arms,’ WLWT-TV reported.
He said his most important focus right now is to make sure the family is safe and protected and can find peace someday.
‘The proof is evident and the presumption is great that he be held without bail,’ Tekulve said.
The judge then ruled Doerman be held without bond. The next court date is set for July 5 for a pre-trial hearing.
At Doerman’s arraignment on Thursday prosecutors described how he had ‘hunted’ down one of the boys who fled before bringing him back to the house and shooting him.
David Gast, Clermont County´s chief prosecutor of Municipal Court, called the killlings the worst crime he’d ever seen.
‘This was the man that everyday they woke up looking to for protection, love and guidance in all things.
‘He was their world, he was their guardian and he executed them in cold blood.’
Chad Doerman, 32, shot dead his three sons – aged seven, four and three – in Monroe Township. One of the boys tried to flee into a nearby field but Doerman ‘hunted’ his son down and brought him back to their home before killing him, prosecutors said
According to the indictment Doerman ‘did purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the death of [redacted names] in violation of Ohio Revised Code, Aggrvated Murder, an unclassified felony.’
The indictment revealed that Doerman was in possession of a Marlin Model HC .22 Rifle at the time of the deadly shooting.
‘Chad C. Doerman had a fireram on or about his person or under his control while committing the offense and displayed the firearm, brandished the firearm, indicated that he possessed the firearm, or used it to facilitate the offense,’ as per the indictment.
Officials have not released a motive for the slayings, which occurred in Monroe Township, about 75 miles west of Columbus.
His bail has been set at $20 million and he is currently being held in the Clermont County Jail.
Court records did not indicate whether he was represented by a lawyer at his arraignment. Clermont County’s public defender’s office declined to say whether they represent him.
On Wednesday the chilling 911 calls were released by the prosecutors office.
In one of the calls, a frantic neighbor can be heard telling a 911 operator that she witnessed a blonde-haired girl running down the road and screaming ‘my stepfather is killing everybody in her house’.
In a separate call, the boys’ mother, 34, who was shot in the hand, can be heard telling operators that her ‘babies have been shot’.
The neighbor who called 911 told the operator that she offered to pick up the girl in her car but the teen refused, telling her that she ‘couldn’t leave her family’ and continued running toward a fire station.
The Clermont County Prosecutor’s Office told DailyMail.com it was not releasing the girl’s name.
The ranch-style blue shingle home where the shootings took place occurred in Monroe Township, about 75 miles west of Columbus
Officials have not released a motive for the slayings. A photo of the three innocent victims.
Deputies responded to the home in Monroe Township shortly before 4.30pm on June 15 after receiving two 911 calls, one apparently from the mother who was screaming that ‘her babies had been shot.’
The other call came from a passing motorist who said a girl was running down the street saying her father was killing people, according to a news release from the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office.
The deputies found three boys outside the home with gunshot wounds and tried to save their lives, but the children died at the scene.
Haunting police bodycam footage shows the moment officers arrived to find Doerman calmly seated next to his rifle moments after allegedly executing his young sons.
He was detained without incident after he was found on the steps of his Ohio property.
‘I ain’t gonna hurt nobody,’ Doerman told arresting officers as he told them that his dog wouldn’t bite them.
‘Shut up, dude. You have the right to remain silent. F***ing use it,’ a deputy tells him.
The sheriff’s office said the 34-year-old mother, who was not identified, was outside the home and had suffered a gunshot to the hand while trying to shield her sons from their father.
She was transported to a hospital with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening.
Police body camera footage shows the arrest of Chad Doerman, who was sitting on his front steps when police arrived after he allegedly shot his three sons, ages 7, 4, and 3
The Clermont County´s chief prosecutor of Municipal Court said Doerman, ‘held these children knowing there was nothing they could do.
‘How do you unsee that sort of abomination?’ Gast asked.
The sheriff’s office said there were no signs of forced entry into the home and investigators are not looking for any other suspects.
Doerman later allegedly confessed to lining up his three young sons and shooting them one after another, as his terrified daughter ran, screaming that her father was ‘killing everyone,’ said prosecutors on Friday.
He is also accused of shooting the boys’ mother in the hand. He was charged with aggravated murder over the death of his children.
Officials have not released a motive behind the shootings.
Doerman’s father, Keith Doerman, 59, said he and his wife were ‘still trying to comprehend’ how their son could have allegedly killed his own boys, but added they have ‘no answers.’
Keith added: ‘He just snapped. There was something going on in his life that he couldn’t handle no more.’
‘I can’t talk to him, they aren’t letting me talk to him so I don’t have any answers. He probably hid a lot of stuff from me.’
He said he had just visited his son last week. ‘He seemed fine. He was a jokester and a fun-loving guy,’ he said.
He also insisted that his son did not have a criminal history or any mental illness.
But, in 2010 was once charged with a domestic violence incident, during which he had allegedly choked his father.
However, the case was dismissed when Keith Doerman failed to appear as a witness for the prosecution.
The elder Doerman told the Post that the account recorded by the Cincinnati Enquirer was incorrect and that the ‘judge dismissed the case.’
Just days prior to their horrifying deaths, Doerman seems to have changed his profile picture on Facebook to a picture of his three young sons.
Doerman updated his Facebook page to include this picture days before his murder spree. After his arrest, Doerman allegedly confessed to lining up his three young sons and shooting them one after another
He also posted several pictures of himself with the boys in recent days. On June 11, a picture showed Doerman with his three sons all giving a thumbs up.
‘Grandma loves this picture,’ a woman named Gloria Doerman said.
A friend painted a slightly different picture of the suspect. ‘He had a bad temper, really bad. I think he was a bomb ready to to explode,’ friend Mark Holland told The Messenger.
A neighbor, Richard Kincannon, went along with that sentiment in a separate interview with WCPO.
‘He was angry every day. There wasn’t a day he didn’t yell at his wife and kids out there,’ Kincannon said.
The day before the horror unfolded, the president of the baseball league where the boys played said that she saw the family.
‘He was telling the boys to get in their car seats. Be safe. You would have not thought anything. Just normal typical conversations with another family on the ball field,’ Kristin Bennett told WLWT.
While their team’s assistant coach, Brandon Allen, called the brothers ‘incredible kids.’
‘We’re told these children were talented athletes and loved baseball. Their coaches are remembering these incredible kids. You can’t help but think of all the memories you had,’ Allen said.
‘They were quintessential boys. They were good boys. They loved playing ball, just everything you would want in a little guy that you’re coaching,’ he added.
A GoFundMe established for the family and the burial expenses for the boys has raised over $251,000 exceeding their initial goal of $20,000.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk