Two Maryland teenagers are in custody, charged with a plot to kill one of the teens’ parents. Police say 16-year-old Katelyn Kirchoff “helped devise” the plan to kill members of her family so the couple could be together, William Collins, also 16, is accused of firing a gun at members of Kirchoff’s family as they watched a football game at the Kirchoff’s Dorchester County home.
Police described a “spray of bullets,” believed to have been fired from a .357 magnum into the house. No one was killed in the shooting, but the girl’s aunt was hit with fragments from the bullets. Charging documents in the case indicate that Collins had been arrested for a burglary at the home the day prior to the shooting, and that the teens concocted the plan via text messages, even agreeing to time the shootings to occur at 9:20 p.m. Records indicate that police were called at 9:21 p.m.
Despite the evidence against Kirchoff, her family has publicly offered their support. Her father told press:
“I’m standing by her,” said her father Ken Kirchoff. “The whole family, all five people who were there that night, stand by her. She is not this type of child.”
The teen’s parents had not spoken to their daughter for days when the elder Kirchoff spoke to press, and both teens remained incarcerated, neither able to post $500,000 bail. Katelyn Kirchoff is said to have confessed to her role in the murder plot, and both teenagers have been charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder and five counts of attempted second-degree murder. It was not known whether the teens had been assigned or retained Maryland criminal attorneys to face the murder charges.
This article is presented by The Law Office of David Benowitz, serving Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC.
