Sheriff: Boy shot girl, then himself

Published 4:43 pm Wednesday, March 23, 2011

A second teen has died in the aftermath of a homicide-suicide near Amor that had already claimed the life of a 16-year-old girl on Monday night.

Dylan Taylor Cox, the 17-year-old boy involved in the shooting, was taken off life support on Tuesday afternoon at Sanford Hospital in Fargo after being airlifted there on Monday night. The girl, Tabitha Lee Belmonte, was found dead at the scene when Otter Tail County sheriff’s deputies responded to the home at 30811 Twin Lake Road after a 9 p.m. 9-1-1 call from Cox’s parents on Monday.

Cox shot Belmonte multiple times before shooting himself, the sheriff’s office reported this morning. The incident took place in an upper level bedroom of the home, which belongs to Cox’s parents.

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Belmonte was a Perham High School student, and Cox was a former student there. The residence at Twin Lake Road was identified as belonging to Cox’s parents, Darrin and Catherine Cox, deputies reported.

The two teens had a 7-month-old daughter, Emma Lee Cox, together.

Cox’s Facebook page included positive references to Charles Manson, leader of a cult group that killed several people in 1969, and Anton LaVey, the author of the Satanic Bible.

The Perham area schools were all on lockdown on Tuesday because of the shooting. At about 9:30 a.m., the Perham middle school also received a terroristic threat on its voicemail, as an unnamed male left a message threatening violence at the school. After tracing the call, said Perham Police Chief Jason Hoaby, the call was traced back to an 18-year-old resident of Washington State who claimed he was making a prank call. The call is not related to the shooting in Amor.

Hoaby said that the man has not been charged with a crime, but the Perham Police Department will be seeking charges against him.

The goal of the school’s lockdown was to keep students safe and engaged in learning, said Perham School Superintendent Tamara Uselman. A message sent via the school’s voice dialer alerted parents of the lockdown and said that the kids are safe.

Counselors were on hand to help students and staff deal with the trauma of the shooting.

“There’s a lot of sadness, a lot of pain and a lot of grief,” Uselman said.

Perham schools were closed today due to weather.