12/04/11 — Teen kills cousin, himself

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Teen kills cousin, himself

By Gary Popp
Published in News on December 4, 2011 1:50 AM

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News-Argus/MICHAEL BETTS

Sheriff Deputy Ken Law fills out paperwork on the hood of his cruiser in the driveway of 221 Sunridge Lane Friday night.

Two teens are dead after a 19-year-old shot his 18-year-old cousin, then turned the gun on himself Friday night.

Raymond Samenski Jr. fired a single shot killing Ryan Shelby and another shot killing himself around 7:20 p.m.

Deputies with the Wayne County Sheriff's Office stretched yellow crime scene tape across the front of the two story, upper-middle class home where the two young men laid lifeless inside. Neighborhood kids gathered in solemn huddles on the street outside.

Both men lived in the Samenski family home at 221 Sunridge Lane, off of True Vine Road, in eastern Wayne County.

Shelby has lived in the home since August, deputies with the Sheriff's Office said.

Investigator Tom Flores said Samenski's father and younger teenage sibling were in the home with the shootings occurred.

Samenski's mother had left the home before the shootings to pick up dinner, he said.

Flores said Samenski's father did not witness the shot that killed his nephew, but watched, helplessly, as his son took his own life. The father told investigators that his son suffered from depression.

The investigator said that the two shots were fired almost instantaneously and that both wounds were to the head.

He said that according to statements from witnesses, the altercation prior to the murder and suicide developed unexpectedly.

"There was nothing out of the ordinary leading to shooting," Flores said.

He said the revolver used in the shooting belonged to Samenski's father.

Flores said the bodies of the young men would be kept at Wayne Memorial Hospital overnight and were to be taken to the Medical Examiner's Office in Chapel Hill Saturday.