Mentally Ill Man Kills Stepfather, Stabs Mother; Shot Dead By Brother

Thanksgiving turned into a tragedy for a family in New Orleans, Louisiana, after an elderly man was fatally stabbed by his stepson who was later shot dead by his older brother.

DeFranklin Reynolds, 31, stabbed 82-year-old Elijah Johnson multiple times with a knife before attacking his 51-year-old mother with the same weapon. Reynolds' elder brother, who was not named by the local media, intervened and shot him.

Police and paramedics arrived at the home and pronounced Johnson dead. Reynolds and his mother, who was stabbed in the face, were rushed to a local hospital. Reynolds died at the hospital while his mother was reported to be in a stable condition.

Speaking to KNOE-TV, Johnson's stepson Deronta Laugand said he was at work on Thursday morning when he received a call from his older brother, saying that Reynolds was "out of control."

"He Facetimed me to try to get some help or to try to see what he could do to help, but it all started going downhill from there," Laugand, a New Orleans Fire Fighter, told the channel.

Suddenly, the older brother noticed Reynolds attacking his mother and intervened.

"He had to save my mom's life, but unfortunately he had to shoot my brother. I don't know how he's dealing with it and coping with it. We just have to take it one day at a time now," Laugand said.

The older brother was detained for questioning. However, it remains unclear if he was arrested.

Laugand said Reynolds was mentally ill and that the family had already made multiple attempts to get him help.

"We tried to have him seen, and we tried to look to the state for doing that, but they kept sending him back. They sent him back twice," Laugand said.

"Tragically this had to happen on Thanksgiving Day, and we have to bury two people. It's all just fresh and new," he added.

Meanwhile, local news outlet NOLA stated that Johnson was a church trustee.

"This is just a tremendous loss for his family, and it's a tremendous loss for the church and this community," Willie Thomas, pastor of a nearby church, told the outlet.