‘Polite Young Men’ Brutally Beat, Stab Parents — Mother Calls 911 As Son Tries To Kill Her

Early Saturday morning, Yvonne and Zachary Ervin awoke to find their two sons trying to kill them. Now, the parents are in the hospital while the children are in jail, facing serious felony charges.

Cameron, 17, and Christopher, 22, had allegedly ruptured their home’s gas line, swamping the inside with natural gas as they beat and stabbed their parents. Police say their ultimate goal was to burn down the house, WSBTV reported.

The attack began just before 8 a.m. At some point, Zachary was able to distract his sons while their mother called 911 to report that “her children were trying to kill her and her husband,” police spokesman Sgt. Rich Long told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

“She stated that her husband was distracting them so she was able to call for help. The call eventually went silent.”

The scene at the Ervin house, which neighbors reported as usually calm and the family happy, was alarming when police arrived. They found both Yvonne and Zachary severely wounded. Zachary was outside with one son, while Yvonne was inside with the other — the house smelled strongly of natural gas.

“Zachary came out of the garage and collapsed,” Long told CNN. “He had a lot of head and body injuries from blunt force trauma and stab wounds on his back. (Yvonne) also had blunt force trauma but not as severe as the father.”

Both parents have been hospitalized and are expected to survive.

Cameron and Christopher lived with their parents at a home near Atlanta, Georgia. Regarding the sons’ attack on their parents, neighbor Clint Miller told WSBTV that “They’re just an everyday normal family in the neighborhood.”

And police have not yet figured out what the young men’s motive would’ve been. Though the brothers have been cooperative and investigators have determined that they intended not just to kill their parents, but to incinerate their house as well, the motive is a mystery. But Long doubts it was spur-of-the-moment.

“There is no official motive at this point, but there has to be something more to this. I’m sure they didn’t just wake up and decide to kill their parents yesterday,” he said.

The brothers are now facing two counts aggravated assault and two counts first-degree arson, each. Though Cameron is only 17, he will be tried as an adult, per Georgia law.

As for their neighbor, Mr. Miller, he said the boys’ were always “very polite young men,” he told CBS46.

“That’s the last thing I would have expected out of those kids. I hope they understand that their parents gave them everything they could.”

[Photo via Twitter courtesy Gwinnett County Police Department]