The mother and maternal grandparents of Connor Kerner, who is accused of a double murder, are facing a lawsuit.
The mother of one of the murder victims, 19-year-old Molley Lanham, filed the lawsuit, claiming that Kerner’s grandparents, Christine and Gerald Dye, didn’t properly secure their guns at their property where the shooting occurred.
On Feb. 25, the couple went out of town and gave Connor Kerner and his mother Roxann Kerner access to their home to watch their dog.
According to the lawsuit, Lanham drove her friend, Thomas Grill Jr., to Dye’s property that day to meet Kerner. When they got there, Kerner, who was 17 at the time, allegedly shot Grill and beat him to death. Then, he shot Lanham in the back of the head.
“Gerald and Christine had a duty to properly secure their firearms when they were not home, particularly when they knew that Connor and Roxann would be accessing the property in their absence to care for the dog,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit additionally argues that the grandparents “knew or should have known that Connor Kerner had significant behavioral problems.”
The suit says that Connor sold and took illegal drugs and had “previously inflicted serious bodily injury upon another person in the fall of 2018.” He had to attend an alternative school.
The lawsuit also targets Roxann Kerner, who had custody of Connor and lived with him in Valparaiso, Ind. at the time of the shootings.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of money to compensate Lanham’s estate.
Connor has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and felony counts of intimidation and arson.
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