Man Calls 911 After Fatally Shooting Father, Uncle While Locking Up Grandparents In Bathroom

A North Carolina man has been charged with murder after fatally shooting his father and uncle. The 27-year-old man who called 911 to report the murders also admitted to locking up his grandparents in the bathroom, authorities said.

Garrett Robert Eley from Hendersonville admitted to murdering his 60-year-old father, Stephen Robert Eley, and 57-year-old uncle, Brian Eugene Eley, Sunday evening at his grandparents' house where the family lived. Garrett has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree kidnapping, ABC 13 reported.

Emergency officers received a call from Garrett at around 9.30 p.m. Sunday reporting the murders. Garrett also informed the officials that he had locked up his grandparents, Pat and Robert Barker, in the bathroom of the house.

"The caller advised our telecommunicators that two people in the residence had been shot. What makes this so unusual is that the suspect admitted on the 911 call to being the shooter," Henderson County Sheriff Lowell Griffin said in a press conference, News Channel 3 reported.

Garrett, who sounded "eerily calm" while reporting the deaths, initially declined to provide further details to the officer on call, but he soon confessed to both the murders. He even detailed the officer on how he locked up the grandparents before he shot the victims, the report said.

“I escorted them into the bathroom. I used a chair and taped it just to keep them there, while I got my head sorted out," Garrett said. “I had no intention of hurting either of them, I never did. This was between me and my dad and his brother,” he told the dispatcher.

Garrett said he had frequent verbal arguments with his father and his uncle. “A lot of death threats back and forth between each other over years, and, frankly, it kind of blew up tonight,” Garrett told the dispatcher. After fatally shooting the victims, Garrett said he left Stephen's body in the garage covered with a sheet, and Brian's body in a bedroom.

The emergency officers who arrived at the scene took Garrett into custody. The grandparents were found locked inside the bathroom and were taken to the hospital for evaluation. They did not reportedly sustain any injuries in connection with the incident.

"There is no reason for this type of senseless violence. This is a complete tragedy that's going to ripple throughout this family," Sheriff Griffin said. Garrett is currently being held without bond in the Henderson County Detention Facility.