The 21-year-old man from Minnesota was indicted for the slaying of his older sister. According to the police officials, the mother of the victim and alleged perpetrator, ran screaming to a neighbor’s house on the afternoon of May 8, “Joey shot and killed Noelle.” The neighbor made a quick 911 call.
Alyssa Ness repeated that her son had shot her daughter and that there were multiple weapons in the house. She also said that she didn’t know if her son, Joseph T. Ness, was still in the house by the time they made contact. Deputies ultimately didn’t find the suspect at the her residence.
One hour after the incident, Joseph was in custody. He surrendered without incident. When the deputies entered the house, they found hundreds of spent rifle casings, bullet holes in walls, and many windows shattered by gunfire. Further examination revealed that the suspect had shot, in part, from his bedroom into his sister’s bedroom across a hallway, those rounds traveling in largely a horizontal manner.
Investigators say his sister, Noelle Ness, may have been shot at a closer ranger as rounds travelled vertically through her bed and some of her wounds had stippling – a term that describes abrasions on the skin from gunpowder and is typically considered a tell-tale sign of close-range fire by pathology experts.
12 spent rifle casings were recovered near her bed by sheriff’s deputies. She was pronounced dead at the scene by responding paramedics. Authorities recovered six rifles–including what the report refers to as “variants” of the popular AR-15 and AK-47-style guns–from the Ness residence, along with unspent ammunition and high-capacity drum magazines.
The defendant is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 6.
