AXTON, VA --
Sheriff's deputies in Henry County said a man killed his wife, one of his sons, then himself.
Officials said they found the body of William Ronald Carter, his wife Bonnie Williams Carter, and his son, 29-year-old William Ronald Carter Jr., of Danville, shot to death Sunday in their basement on Wilhaven Lane in Axton, Virginia.
Deputies said the home had been burned when they arrived. Fire marshals are investigating the incident as an arson.
Deputies found a combination rifle/shotgun at the scene.
Another son, 22-year-old Timothy Carter, was also shot but escaped and fled to neighbor Deborah Akers' house.
Akers said the man said his father called him at Radford University student and said something was wrong with his brother and he needed to come home.
"He said his dad was hunting him and after he got in the house he told us that his daddy had shot and killed his mother and his brother," Akers said.
Timothy Carter was transported to Memorial Hospital in Martinsville and was transferred to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem. As of 1:00 p.m. Sunday, Carter was in fair condition.
"It was a loving family in a beautiful home. It's awful. It's hard for me to talk right now," said neighbor Corey Strother.
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