Walter Ferri Guns Down Family in Apparent Murder-Suicide

May 08, 2008

Police say Ferri killed himself, along with Stacy and Sherry Lee and James Glass

On Monday, nineteen-year-old James Glass of Long Beach, Mississippi, was engaged to the love of his life, 19-year-old Stacy Lee, of Gulfport. Not only were the two set to be married, they were also expecting the birth of their first child. Today, James and Stacy are dead.  No wedding, no child, and no life to look forward to. All of that was stolen from them on Tuesday, when Stacy's stepfather shot them dead, along with Stacy's sister, 17-year-old Sherry Lee, in an apparent murder-suicide.

The Harrison County Sheriff's Department received an emergency 911 call at approximately 3:22 a.m., Tuesday, from a female caller who said that her stepfather, 50-year-old Walter Ferri, was holding a gun on her mother inside their Andre Drive home. As officers were dispatched to the scene, a second 911 call was received from the female caller at 3:37 a.m., notifying the dispatcher that someone had been shot. Further details from that conversation have not yet been released.

Details remain sketchy. However, at some point during the incident, the girls' mother, Sonja Ferri, managed to crawl out of a window in the back of the home and ran for help. Shortly thereafter, roughly 12 minutes after the first 911 call was received, five sheriff's deputies arrived on the scene.  Aware there was an armed suspect inside, but unaware of the current situation, the deputies maintained their distance while attempting to negotiate with Walter Ferri.

When deputies failed to make any progress with Ferri, they ordered him to come out of the house with his hands up. The time was 4:40 a.m. In response to their demands, Ferri yelled out, "No, I'm going to kill myself."  Moments later, a single gunshot rang out.

When deputies entered the home, they discovered Ferri's body slumped on the floor, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  A revolver and handgun lay close by. In the living room, deputies found the lifeless body of James Glass.  As they made their way to the back of the home, the smell of gunpowder still lingering in the air, deputies found the bodies of Stacy and Sherry inside a bathroom.

"One sister was laying up against the bathtub, and the other sister was laying on top of her," Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove told WLOX.com.

When recounting the scene to the media, deputies later said it appeared as though the sisters were attempting to hide when they were shot and that they had been huddling together in an apparent attempt to protect and comfort each other...

Continue Reading Walter Ferri Guns Down Family in Apparent Murder-Suicide

Photo Courtesy of Harrison County Sheriff's Department

Comments

[Angie]

I live in Gulfport, and I can't even believe this. I have been reading crimelibrary and all your other reportings for the last few years. This happened miles away, and I am glad that you have covered this awful tragedy.

[Queen Of Hearts]

OMG what made this man do this to his whole family and the new baby that will never even have a chance at life because of him! I am unclear as to if the wife got away or not,but god bless her if she did survive! to me it seems the economy and people losing their himes,jobs etc is a definite element in these murder/suicides lately!

[David Lohr]

Hi Queen of Hearts,

Yes, his wife did survive. He did not shoot her, although he did assault her before she managed to escape.

Thanks for commenting.

Regards,

David Lohr

[David Lohr]

Hi Angie,

I agree, it is a true tragedy. Thank you for following my writing all these years. I am very grateful to you for your continuing support.

I hope to read more of your comments in the future.

Regards,

David Lohr

[Reesy]

James was my friend...I went to high school with him...and I forever hope that Ferri burns in hell for the horrible crime he has commited...and I'm glad he's dead or I would have shot him myself. James was a sweet person and I'm going to love him and miss him forever..I attended the wake and funeral and that was the most toughest experience ever to see somebody who means the world to you like that...He was like a brother to me...In fact I felt like I lost a brother..If you could have only seen the pain his family felt....his daddy cried so much til he was red in the face...=(....At the wake friday night, tons of people showed, so much that there was not any parking places left..I was amazed how many people loved him and cared about him and came to show their support...

[David Lohr]

Hello Reesy,

I am very sorry for the loss of your friend. It is never easy when something like this happens. I will keep both you and the victims' family in my thoughts.

Please be well.

Regards,

David Lohr

[Reesy]

Thank you David,

I know things will get better in time. From what I've come to understand from hearing from his brother and a cousin of his, James lived in saucier with his fiance and her family, and Ferri and his wife got into a domestic dispute ( I've heard so many different versions of this) and he was accusing his wife of everything under the sun, and then it turned violent and he assaulted her with a gun..and in an online blog, his cousin said James tried to interfere and stop the guy from doing it and he shot james...I guess we will never know what his motive was, but from a story I read, the guy took the majority of the shooting out on those girls, he shot one of them 3 times and the other 4....it is just horrible to imagine that. Like you said, I just cannot believe that he was having a child with that girl, that part I didn't know, because I never saw James a lot. I have just heard many news reports on this story, but maybe you could help me answer this question so I can come to terms with this..Was James shot first? Was the 911 call reporting that someone got shot refering to him? How did that mom manage to get out of that house? I just wonder what was going on during that time period that gave her enough time to get out of the house..

[David Lohr]

Hello Reesey,

I wish I had the answers to your questions. Until the police release their final report we may not know. But there again, those reports often do not tell the entire story, as the police can only tell us what the evidence reveals.

If, as you have heard, James tried to stop him that is probably when Sonja climbed out the window. If that is the case, James probably was shot first. The fact that Sonja escaped -- the woman Walter saw as the focus of his anger -- would have led him to take out his rage on her children. In his mind, that was the only way he could still punish her.

It was a senseless crime and will never make sense in such a way that it will ease our minds.

Regards,

David Lohr

[amanda gibson]

I was James' Aunt. I am his Dad's sister. Yes James was the fist one shot. He had pulled walter ferri off of the mother so she could get out of the window. then he went outside to unlock his car and open the doors so he could get the girls out and leave as fast as he could but as he walked into the door walter shot him.

[Erika]

I feel the need to put some things out there. I am not a friend of these people, but we had some mutual friends. And I am friends with an investigator on the case. I am sure we will never know what truely happened in that house that day. But this is what I know:
The fight broke out over his wife cheating on him, amoungst other things. He tried to walk away and go to bed and she picked the bedroom lock and continued screaming. SHE pulled the pistol on him first, he took it from her. This is the wife's third husband to die. The first committed suicide, the second died from antifreeze poisoning, and now the third murdered her children and committed suicide. She now lives with her new boyfriend. Maybe they should look into that angle as to why this man snapped...??
The girls were shot through the bathroom door. When the investigators got there, the bathroom was still locked. They had to bust the door to get in the bathroom.
The boy was shot first. He was shot when he walked back in from trying to go get the mother and tried to wrestle the gun away from the shooter.
They did not know the girl was pregnant. The autopsy revealed that.

And what kind of mother leaves her children in that house with a mad man with a gun?!?!

[Erika]

I want to add that under NO MEANS am I saying that what this man did was justified. There is no justification for his actions. I just wanted to added some more facts to the story.

[amanda gibson]

erika do you know if the investigator is going to watch the mother more closely?

[Michelle]

I am not Erica but I on the other hand do know this family, very well as a matter of fact. Yes the wife is under investigation. A toxicology report has been sent to the lab to be tested for any types of poisoning in Ferri. This was a very disfunctional family. As a matter of fact Sherry and Stacy hated Ferri and would tell him things like "I wish you would die, I hate you, and call him out of his name" (which I will not post on here). Not saying they deserved what they got but they are being portrayed as angels when they were far from it. The mother did NOT make them respect him under any circumstance as a matter of fact she would make matters worse. If the wife would have made better decisions then none of this would have ever happened. There has been many occasions when Ferri has left for days at a time because they would torment him. Around Christmas time the mother got into an argument with Stacy and tried to stab her with a screw driver. Thats when Stacy was kicked out of the home and just recently moved back. So for those of you that want to pass judgment and "hopes someone burns in hell" learn the facts and truth about things then speak your opinions. Like Erica said What kind of mother leaves her kids behind if she truly felt her life in danger????? I am a mother and he would have had to kill me first!!!!! And it is true James was sent outside to find the wife and then he came back inside to fight Ferri. If he felt he was in danger then why did he go back inside as well?????

[amanda gibson]

James was raised to protect his loved ones. My brother taught him that no matter what you do you protect your woman and your family. James's mother died in a car wreck when he was 4. After that my brother taught his kids to be very close to family and protect them. James did love stacy and he knew she was pregnant. He tried his best to protect them. James was not raised in a feuding family. They all loved each other very much. i just wish that he would of told us what kind of family they were. Everytime i talked to him he was always so happy. I have two children of my own and i agree with you i would never leave my children in a house with a man and a gun.

[Michelle]

I am very sadden that James was in the middle of this on-going feud that has been going on for two years. He did not know what type of family he was getting himself into. But I knew Walter really well and this is NOT the man I knew. Walter was the type to help anybody at any time. His biggest flaw was that he trusted people as soon as he met them. He has friends from every town he stopped in that loved him dearly. He also has a daughter and 3 grandkids who were the world to him. He was a very big family person, he was one out of seven kids and his family are always together. Walter does not have any criminal history nor mental history. Zonia has tried everything under the sun to pull him from his family. He had to lie to her or hide it from her when he wanted to send his daughter money or help someone. She would get furious with him. Walter has been sick for a month and a half up until this, he has been in and out of doctors offices and no one could figure out what was wrong. For the last 3-4 weeks she would start arguments with him because he was unable to work and she wanted money. Zonia knows the truth about this night and the guilt will eat her. She was never totally honest with him about anything and he loved her dearly. Stacy and Sherry has tried everything they could think of to break them up. Six months ago Stacys quote on Myspace was "Just because you are the new man in her life dont think for one second your my dad, I freakin Hate YOU!!!" He did not know she was pregnant. No one did. I dont know details but I know enough to honestly say Walter was pushed and pushed until he finally could not take anymore. He would have never done this to his daughter nor his grandkids if he was in the right state of mind. They brought out the hate in him. Once again I am sorry for the loss of James.

[amanda gibson]

james had just told his dad a day or two before that she was pregnant. he was very excited. well i hope that the police can get the evidence they need to put her away. but then again i have little faith in the justice system. my sister was murdered 6 months ago and they still have not arrested anyone on that matter either.

[Diana Sherwood]

I am James other Aunt from Alabama. James had a great heart and he loved to work on cars or motors. He has always been very respectal to all his elders. James did find out she was having a baby, he told his father he was going to be a grandpaw the day before he was killed. James was trying to save the mother and the girls life and he was killed for doing what God would expect us to do to help other. When the mother got out she had no ideal that he would kill her children or she would have neverleft out of the window. He is with his girlfriend, mother, both grandmothers, and Aunt in heaven. I know he would not want to live with out her. It was very hard on Troys family and it something that will be with all of us for the rest of our lives. So please pray for Troys family everyday he needs your prayers to make it one day at a time.

[Diana Sherwood]

There is no way that James would of not gone back into the house to get the girls, he would have never been able to live with himself. James did know he was going to be a dad and he was very proud of finding the girl he loved and start a family they were just staying ther to save enough money to get there own place.

[Stacy]

Someone should take a SERIOUS look at the Mother (ZONIA) because not to long after this she was RE_MARRIED!!!! I stopped by the funeral to pay my respects to the girls because this is the family James chose to be a part of. At eh funeral the mother was far from being upset or even looked hurt. She was welcoming people into the funeral home as if she was welcoming people to a party.

I was very concerned because She and others in attendence kept making comments like dotn let the news in here... And dont talk to the media. They were OVER paranoid in my views.

I have been in Emergency field work for almost 10 years now and this behavior is not how ANY parent that was completely innocent has acted.

[shannon]

It has almost been a year and I am just now able to come back and read about the loss of my sisters and my brother-in-law that I will never know, I get to read the horrible things that people have posted and the thoughtful things on here I thank the ones who had concern and thoughtfullness. The ones that lashed out shame on you! I pray that you never go through anything like this with your loved ones! Do you even know the pain that our family suffered and is still suffering! Just remember that NO family is perfect! Who are you to cast judgment yes we did know that stacy was pregnant,no you are not right with how Zonia's ex's passed! before you place a cruel and hateful comment on here think of the family and what pain they are going through,think if this is your family how would you feel! once agian I pray you never feel the pain i still and always will feel.