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CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) — Authorities on Monday charged a 20-year-old Virginia man with shooting and killing his brother and his father, and injuring his mother, shocking neighbors in their quiet subdivision. The slain father was a police officer.
Zachary Logan Toothman was arraigned Monday in Chesapeake on counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder and related charges, according to court documents.
His father, Det. Michael Toothman, served on the police force for more than 30 years in this city of more than 200,000, police said.
"It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the passing of one of our own," senior police officer Ravi Sheth said in a statement.
Neighbors told The Associated Press that Toothman's brother was a senior in high school who ran track and percussionist in the school band. The mother, Susan Toothman, is on the executive board of the high school's PTA.
"We're still trying to wake up from this bad dream," said Greg Branigan, 50, a next door neighbor. "They were really engaged in the community. It was kind of like, if you saw one of them, you generally saw all four of them together."
Branigan said his family came home from church on Sunday morning to find several police cars and emergency vehicles surrounding the Toothman home. The Toothman's have lived in the subdivision of large two-story homes and manicured lawns since it was built in the early 2000s.
He said he saw nothing in the family's life that could help explain what happened.
"Both boys had the world going for them," he said. "They were smart and well-liked. I can't say anything but good things."
The Virginian-Pilot newspaper reported that Toothman had recently failed out of Virginia Tech's Naval ROTC program and was no longer enrolled at the university.
The tragedy follows a similar incident in Chesapeake that occurred in January. Police said Cameron Dooley, 26, killed five family members, including his retired police officer father, and then himself.
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