Brother charged in shooting deaths of teen sisters

COLERAIN TWP. – A brother has been charged with killing his two sisters and injuring their friend in a shooting in Colerain Township early Wednesday.

Matthew A. Hayden, 21, has been charged with the murder of Sarah and Elizabeth Hayden, and the attempted murder of their friend Joshua Hacker, as the group sat in their parents' minivan in the back of a home at 3455 Banning Road, according to court documents.

The sisters were pronounced dead at the home. Hacker was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center and is in stable condition, Colerain Township public information officer Jim Love said.

The victims were all teens. Sarah was 16 and Elizabeth was 17, according to the Hamilton County Coroner's Office. Hacker's exact age is not known.

Hayden surrendered without incident to police shortly after 2:30 a.m., Love said.

Hayden, who used a 9 mm handgun in the shooting, was arrested and charged later in the morning. He faces two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

The shooter emptied a magazine and then reloaded, Love said. He said the shooter took "a good number of shots."

There were people in the home at the time but they don't seem to have witnessed the shooting, Love said.

"It's kind of a hodge-podge situation; not clear that this is one congealed family," Love said.

The home is listed as a single-family dwelling owned by Douglas Hayden, in Hamilton County Auditor's records.

Love said many shell casings from different caliber guns were found on the street but they appeared to have been there for a while and it is not clear if they were from the fatal shooting.

"Question is what started this. Is it drug-related, was it an anger situation, is it a relationship situation? Why were they up at 2:30 in the morning, in the backyard? Those questions are all on the table," Love said.

Colerain High School sent an email to parents Wednesday afternoon stating assistance would be offered to students.

"While the victims were not current CHS students, they were teenagers who would be known to some of our current students," the email said.

The school encouraged parents to consider addressing the situation with their children.

Former Colerain High School football coach Steve Schweitzer, 71, whose well-manicured property is across the road from the home where the shooting occurred, said the residents of 3455 Banning are the exception in the diverse and close-knit neighborhood.

"That side of the street is totally different," Schweitzer said. "This is almost like a climax to what, I guess, was going on over there."

Love said the property is known to police as they've made prior runs to the house for unspecified reasons.