Cops: Boy Scout Killed Parents, 2 Brothers

Bail Denied For Md. Teen Who Allegedly Shot His Family, Then Staged Discovery Of Bodies

(CBS/AP)  Police say a 15-year-old Boy Scout charged with killing his parents and two younger brothers shot them as they slept, then returned a day later after spending time with friends to stage the discovery of their deaths.

A judge denied bail for Nicholas Browning on Monday, though his attorney cited his strong academic background and lack of a prior criminal record in seeking to have it set at $1 million instead.

"I don't even think he's even been suspended from school," attorney Steve Silverman said. "Quite frankly, it's really quite shocking."

Officials believe the teen had shot his father, mother, and brothers with one of his father's guns Friday, then tossed the handgun in some bushes and left.

Friends dropped Nicholas off on Saturday, authorities said, and soon after, he came out of the house to say he had found his father's body on the ground floor. He then called 911.

"A caller reported to 911 that a 45-year-old male was lying on the couch with blood coming out of his nose. He was not breathing," charging documents said.

Shortly before 5 p.m., officers found Nicholas' father dead in a ground-floor room and his mother and brothers' bodies in upstairs bedrooms. They also found the gun. The victims were John, 45; Tamara, 44; Gregory, 13, and Benjamin, 11.

Police said Nicholas confessed early Sunday and was charged as an adult with four counts of first-degree murder. Nicholas was being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center in Towson in a special section for juveniles.

Nicholas had not been getting along with his father, police said in a news release, but investigators offered no other details. There was no sign of a confrontation Friday at the house, police said.

Silverman said he had been retained by the teen, who contacted his office on Sunday. He asked people not to jump to conclusions about his client, noting Browning had repeatedly denied killing his family during hours of police interrogation before the alleged confession.

Silverman noted that Nicholas was an honor student at Dulaney High School, one of the best in the county. He played varsity golf and lacrosse and was a skier.

Nicholas, who was tall and gangly, was working toward becoming an Eagle Scout, and had built a prayer garden at his church to meet one of the requirements.

John Browning, a real estate lawyer, had worked in Baltimore County's oldest law firm for nearly 20 years. He was a scoutmaster and a church leader.

Browning led camping, rock climbing and whitewater expeditions for his Boy Scout troop. The family also hosted meetings for scouts' parents at their home.

"John was a wonderful man. He and his wife, Tammy, were very much in love. Together they were caring and loving parents to their children," Browning's law partners said in a statement. "John was also a man of much faith. And he so much enjoyed the outdoors."

The killings left co-workers, acquaintances and neighbors in the quiet Baltimore suburban neighborhood stunned. Someone hung a small, silver-colored crucifix on the mailbox at the Brownings' half-million dollar farmhouse-style home.

Jennifer Welsh, who lived across the street from the family and whose son played lacrosse with Nicholas, described Nicholas as "a very polite, well mannered, average teenage boy."

She said her son was upset and confused by the killings. "He's wondering ... how? why? He's trying to digest the whole thing."

Of Nicholas, Welsh said, "nobody knows what goes on in his head and I guess we never will."

"Very shocking," was how one resident described the chaotic scene to CBS station WJZ correspondent Peggy Lee. "This is a great neighborhood, great neighborhood. Nothing like this ever happens around here. Nothing, ever. Very quiet."

Another resident, a woman who said she'd lived in the area for 35 years, told WJZ the victims were "just a wonderful family, involved with these children, always involved with their children, so I can't even imagine what has happened."

The county had 37 homicides last year, compared with 282 in nearby Baltimore. Toohey said there had not been a similar incident in the area since 1995, when a man killed his wife and three children before killing himself.

[cmbeilke]

BLEEM3
Boy Scouts is the farthest thing from a place for predators. You should only speak when you ACTUALLY KNOW what you are talkinng about.
Thank you and have a blessed day.

[iceman_1960]

"Guns at home increase the chances of suicide, homicide, and suicide."
- Posted by schoollord at 09:59 PM : Feb 06, 200

Add alcohol, and you increase the risk exponentially.

I read somewhere that Budweiser Beer is the Number One factor in homicides in America.

[slim1h2o]

Posted by schoollord at 09:20 PM : Feb 06, 2008

You!! Are an Idiot!!

[crazydonna49]

I thimk its horrible what happened to this family, my prayer are with all of you.As for the son,something had to trigger this, if in fsct he did it. Its a shame that so many people die from guns, each year. most are family member killing each other.

[iceman_1960]

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
- Posted by ToolMangler at 09:33 PM : Feb 06, 2008

You were doomed to repeat the words of Thucydides:

"The absence of romance in my history will, I fear, detract somewhat from its interest; but I shall be content if it is judged useful by those inquirers who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the interpretation of the future, which in the course of human things must resemble if it does not reflect it."

- Thucydides, "History of the Peloponnesian War"

[toolmangler-2009]

The world is watching and they know your arguments SUCK!
Posted by schoollord at 09:15 PM : Feb 06, 2008



Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. (couldn''t pound anything in your head with a Howitzer)

[bhappy2-2]

Someone (you know who so I won''t post their ID) says 30,000 Americans are killed by guns each year. What that really means is we have 30,000 citizens who are not properly exercising their right to keep and bear arms. Maybe we need to push for mandatory gun classes, leave it up to the individual to decide whether to own a gun, but make the classes mandatory. Then, everyone would know how to use a firearm properly and the 30,000 deaths would be their own fault for not taking care of themselves. Of course, you know who will whine and cry about forcing someone elses beliefs on the whole nation. Only HIS/HER/IT has views that are eligible for that!

[slim1h2o]

But dont worry, the ''''gun deaths will go down'''' (jerk).

Posted by ToolMangler at 05:20 PM : Feb 06, 2008

Exactly,,couldn''t have said it better myself!!

[toolmangler-2009]

Most gun deaths are not related to illegal guns or drugs so your argument is irrelevant!~

Posted by schoollord at 01:46 PM : Feb 06, 2008


Gun owning citizens are legal til they use them to commit a crime, Then they aren''t suppose to be able to own them anymore (imagine that) Its illegal for a convicted criminal to possess a gun (let alone own one). So since criminals cannot have a gun, lets take them away from ''all'' people but the police, Then Gun crime will stop, (just like that). from then on, all bank robberies will be done by bombs attached to people (innocent or not)Deaths will increase by a factor of ten because the explosives will accomplish two things, they will eliminate witnesses and detsroy the cameras used for surveilance, If the planners are thoughtfull, they will direct to bomber to stand near the Vault (this is called ''killing two birds with one stone). But dont worry, the ''gun deaths will go down'' (jerk).

[toolmangler-2009]

Yeah. The chances of that are close to ZILCH!~ Your claims are ultra-pathetic!~
Posted by schoollord at 01:02 PM : Feb 06, 2008


Tell that to the Poles and Chezcks and while your at it, ask them what type of government they had after the Russians took over,

[kinich74]

I still say this is a curious situation.
The police are speaking out and the Media gives plenty of details, and it seems everyone has made up its mind, But still where is the circumstancial evidence?, How do we know this wasn''t a story fabricated by prosecutors in need of a quick suspect?.
When big cases come up the Police always starts pointing out to "we used this or that evidence to get the suspect to confess (such as fingerprints, etc).". Has a wax study been done (to found out if he really shot the gun, in which warm parafine is applied to the hands of the suspect to find out if he has unwashable residual powder), do his fingerprints match the gun?, usually kids who snap do these without preparation?
Also, and I got to study this in College when I took psychology, a 1980s British study about army questioning techniques found that if you ask a person the same question over 2 hours they are bound to confess, but over 4, to put it plainly they may lie in order to get the other guy off his back. In minors, it can take as little as 2 or 3 hours to get to lie, being ironically young to mid adolescents more prone to lie than younger children since they are more prone to pressure. And this is in optimal conditions.

[kinich74]

I still say this is a curious situation.
The police are speaking out and the Media gives plenty of details, and it seems everyone has made up its mind, But still where is the circumstancial evidence?, How do we know this wasn''t a story fabricated by prosecutors in need of a quick suspect?.
When big cases come up the Police always starts pointing out to "we used this or that evidence to get the suspect to confess (such as fingerprints, etc).". Has a wax study been done (to found out if he really shot the gun, in which warm parafine is applied to the hands of the suspect to find out if he has unwashable residual powder), do his fingerprints match the gun?, usually kids who snap do these without preparation?
Also, and I got to study this in College when I took psychology, a 1980s British study about army questioning techniques found that if you ask a person the same question over 2 hours they are bound to confess, but over 4, to put it plainly they may lie in order to get the other guy off his back. In minors, it can take as little as 2 or 3 hours to get to lie, being ironically young to mid adolescents more prone to lie than younger children since they are more prone to pressure. And this is in optimal conditions.

[bndcmpgirl]

That''''s not true. Only 35% of households in the US have guns!~ That 35% is also the number of people without common sense!~ "LOL"
Then what in the world are you complaining about?
If 30, 000 people get killed each year and only 35% of households have guns then it would be my guess that the 30,000 that killed got the guns from somewhere other than household who have guns, do you believe every thing you read? Just because it is on the internet doesnt make it true.

[bndcmpgirl]

You would be happy if one of them 250 was your daughter or son, or mother or sister or brother. And it might just save your life one day, ill take the chance and so will most people in america. You live in your dream world alice, wonderland is right around the corner. While the rest of us are protecting ourselves you can look up some more statistics on why the normal citizen shouldnt be allowed to own a gun. What do you propose that we make all guns illegal for all the everyday citizens? I think they did that with drugs, Drugs are illegal and have been since before I was born, yet you can still get your hands on any kind of drug you want on almost any corner of any state.

[bndcmpgirl]

bndcmpgirl said schoollord get a life, you have way too much time on your hands, the most gun control that is going to happen is what we have now. You should be happy because of them 250 saved by a gun could be someone you love one day. Oh no it wont you would rather let someone invade your house and kill your whole family before you try to protect them, silly me.

[gunnerv1]

One line is all I''ll respond with "COME AND TAKE IT"!

[gunownerdan]

If schoollord got her way, America would be a totalitarian police-state in no time.
All the crime we have today is nothing compared to what an out-of-control government is capable of.
Well over 150,000,000 defenseless civilians were murdered by their own governments during the 20th century alone in Asia, Russia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, etc. Mass murder by governments can and does happen all over the world and without question the defenseless are much easier to exterminate.

[bndcmpgirl]

schoollord, you are like an energizer bunny, you just keep going on and on. Ok so you think there should be gun control but there isn''t and probably never will be, so why don''t you get off your soapbox. The problem is not gun control its as simple as discipline. For the last 10 years,kids have no respect for anyone. My generation would never have thought about killing their parents, we would have been way too scared, and we had guns all over our house, but we knew not to touch it, because see in them days you didnt disobey you just listened to what you were told.

[gunownerdan]

I will admit it, schoollord is right.
Gun control really does work.

"One man with a gun can control 100 without one. Make mass searches and hold executions for found arms."
-- Lenin

"Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas."
-- Joseph Stalin

"All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The communist party must command all the guns, that way, no guns can ever be used to command the party."
-- Mao

"On the morrow of each conflict I gave the categorical order to confiscate the largest possible number of weapons of every sort and kind. This confiscation, which continues with the utmost energy, has given satisfactory results."
-- Benito Mussolini

"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered races to have arms; history teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing."
-- Adolf Hitler

[closethippy1]

Schoollord, I''m truly impressed with you. Please keep up the good work by educating the ignorant.
Take care.