Johnson County, Illinois

From the Carbondale Southern Illinoisan of February 11, 2005

HOSTAGE KILLS ALLEGED ASSAILANT IN HOME

A stormy relationship between two Williamson County teenagers ended in bloodshed Thursday, when a member of the girl's family shot and killed the young man, whom they said had been holding them hostage at gunpoint.

Jeffrey Scott Price, 19, of Marion, died at Saint Louis University Hospital Thursday morning after being shot in the head during the alleged home invasion.
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Price went to the house, located on Deer Trail Road in the Lake of Egypt area, looking for his 17-year-old ex-girlfriend, said Sherry James, the girl's mother. The occupants of the house are James' parents, the girl's grandparents, both in their 70s.

James said her parents told her Price entered their home without them knowing, wearing a ski mask and hooded sweatshirt. He awakened James' mother with a gun in her face, demanding to know where his ex-girlfriend, the woman's granddaughter, was.

Price ordered the couple into the living room, James said, and demanded they find a way to get his ex-girlfriend to come over without arousing suspicion. During the course of about an hour, James said, her mother was able to placate him to the point where he put away the gun. She excused herself to go to the bathroom, and so did her husband.

The couple went to separate bathrooms, but James said her father went to the bedroom to retrieve a .45 caliber handgun he purchased 14 months ago. He had never unwrapped it or taken off the tags, she said.

The man loaded the gun and returned to the living room. Somehow, James said, her mother was able to get Price's gun and throw it off the deck of the house. When her husband came back into the room, he pointed the gun at Price and told him he could either sit down or leave. James said Price told her parents he wouldn't leave without his ex-girlfriend.

James said her father told her mother to call the police with a cell phone, because Price had disabled the land line. As she went to do so, Price produced another gun. James said her father shot Price in the back of the head.

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