CASTLE DALE — A man who according to family has a history of mental illness is expected to face homicide charges as early as today in the shotgun slaying of his parents.
Peter Sharp, 26, was arrested Wednesday on Main Street in Castle Dale following the shooting of William Sharp, 51, and Charmaine Sharp, 54, said Emery County Sheriff Lamar Guymon.
Emergency dispatchers received two calls from the Sharps' home, 400 E. 300 North, just before 9 a.m., Guymon said. The first call was disconnected before the caller could pass on any information, the sheriff said. Dispatchers were in the process of sending deputies to the home using GPS coordinates generated by the first call when the second one came in.
"(The caller) indicated that there may have been some people shot," Guymon said.
Two deputies and an EMT arrived at the modular home, which sits atop a dirt hill at the end of a half-paved road one block off Main Street. They quickly determined the couple was dead and that their son was gone, the sheriff said. The Sharps had each been shot once, Guymon said, declining to say where they'd been hit.
The couple had 10 children. Four of them, ranging in age from 8 to 16, were home when the shooting occurred. Two of them wrestled the shotgun away from Peter Sharp after the shooting, according to investigators.
"He left the house at that point," Guymon said, indicating that it did not appear that Sharp intended to harm his brothers and sisters.
Deputies found Sharp wandering shoeless near a grocery store a few blocks from his parents' home. He resisted efforts to handcuff him, Guymon said, but was taken into custody without the use of a Taser or other weapon.
Sharp's siblings told authorities there had been no trouble between their brother and their parents, Guymon said. But they also said Peter Sharp began suffering from some form of mental illness about six years ago that sometimes required the family to interact with him as if he were a 5-year-old child.
"He's been in treatment facilities," Guymon said. "He wanted to be home. His parents felt like that was the best place for him.
"It's a pretty close family," the sheriff added. "He felt very comfortable (living in his parents' home), and I think they felt very comfortable having him there."
Longtime residents of Emery County, William Sharp, who ran for mayor in the last municipal election, had worked as a miner, while Charmaine Sharp was a certified teacher who taught her children at home.
Peter Sharp, who apparently suffered some facial injuries in the altercation with his siblings following the shooting, was booked into the Emery County Jail for investigation of murder. He is being held in isolation, per jail policy, Guymon said.
"At this point I don't think he's given anyone a motive," the sheriff said. "I think the basis for this whole thing was his mental issues."
Deputies, some dressed in white paper jumpsuits and shoe covers, remained at the Sharp home throughout Wednesday, processing the crime scene. They were expected to review the case with Emery County prosecutors Wednesday evening.
The four children home at the time of the shooting are being cared for by their older siblings, Guymon said. He said he couldn't recall another homicide in Castle Dale during his 40 years in law enforcement in Emery County.
"I don't quite know how to take it," he said. "These are things that we hope never happen, but there's always that possibility out there."
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