Almost a week after three of his children and wife were shot and killed in their Grantsville home, Colin Haynie says he “can hardly comprehend what has happened.”
In a statement released Thursday by his attorney, Haynie spoke for the first time publicly, saying, “As you can imagine, this loss is almost unbearable.”
In the course of a day, Haynie went from having a full house — filled with his wife, two daughters and two sons — to having just a fraction of his family alive.
First, his wife Alejandra Consuelo, 52, and his daughter Milan, 12, were killed. Then Alexis, 17. Then Matthew, 14.
All were killed in a five-hour period as they returned home, shot soon after they walked in the door. Prosecutors allege they were all shot by a 16-year-old member of the family — their son and brother.
“Piece by piece by piece by piece,” Tooele County Attorney Scott Broadhead said Wednesday.
Consuelo Haynie
Milan Haynie
Matthew Haynie
Alexis Haynie
And Haynie found all this out, prosecutors allege, as his teenage son Colin Jeffery “CJ” Haynie attacked him.
Haynie was shot in the leg and suffered a severe cut to his head, but the alleged attack was ultimately unsuccessful because Haynie wrested the gun from his son, according to charging documents. Then, some 45 minutes to an hour later, the father and son were on the way to the hospital together, after a neighbor had stopped by the home that evening to drop off a key. Haynie met her at the door and said he needed to go to the hospital. The neighbor, her husband, Colin and CJ Haynie loaded up.
“They did not realize what they had just stepped into,” Broadhead said, until CJ Haynie confessed in the car.
Broadhead said he doesn’t know what the father and son did or talked about in the time between the shooting and the car ride, or what might have changed about CJ Haynie’s state of mind, adding the teen “was obviously compliant because he went voluntarily to the hospital.”
Broadhead said he doesn’t know the motive behind the shootings.
“At this point, [CJ Haynie] declined to speak to police,” Broadhead said. “Maybe at some point in the future he will.”
Broadhead said investigators have seized numerous electronic devices, like cellphones and computers, from the home and hope those will give them some information about the shootings.
CJ Haynie is scheduled for a court appearance Monday. He is facing four counts of aggravated murder, a count of attempted aggravated murder and five counts of discharging a firearm. All counts are first-degree felonies, and the teen will be tried in adult court.
If convicted, the maximum sentence he could face is 25 years to life in prison. Juveniles can’t receive capital punishment, and in Utah they cannot be sentenced to life without parole.
The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not identify juvenile suspects unless they are charged as an adult in district court.
The 50-year-old Haynie is still recovering from the attack, according to the statement from his attorney, David Isom.
“As he looks forward, Colin will need, and he respectfully requests, time and privacy to grieve and to heal himself and those he loves, including both of his sons [CJ and Daniel],” Isom said.
Daniel Haynie doesn’t live in the Grantsville house and was not present at the time of the attack.
Colin Haynie also asked Isom to “express his and the family’s profound appreciation for the support given by friends, extended community, law enforcement and health care providers.”
The funeral for Alejandra, Milan, Alexis and Matthew Haynie is scheduled for Friday at noon in Grantsville.
