FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) – A 12-year-old boy known for reciting Martin Luther King Jr. speeches across North Carolina is dead. 

Police found Jerel McGeachy, his father and his mother all dead inside their Kansas City area home. Our sister station KDAF-TV said a welfare check led officers to the home on Monday. Investigators believe Jerel McGeachy Sr., 38, killed his son and wife, Dominique McGeachy, 38, before turning the gun on himself. 

Before moving to the Midwest, the 12-year-old traveled across North Carolina delivering speeches. 

“As a mom, he’s just been heavy on my mind especially after initially I heard the story,” Alysse Stewart, Program Director and Personality for Magic 106.9 said. 

McGeachy won a student leadership contest at the radio station in 2022 when the family lived in Hope Mills. 

“He had parents to instill the right things in him and you saw that when he came out into the public. That’s why I was so impressed with him and how he carried himself,” Stewart said. 

According to People Magazine, both parents were employed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, where Domonique worked as a nurse. McGeachy’s father is a former Spring Lake police officer. The community recognized him in 2017 for saving his neighbor’s life. Now, they’re left wondering how this could happen. 

Our CBS 17 crew spoke to family members in Raeford, and they did not have any comments at this time. We were informed that the McGeachy’s paternal grandmother recently died, prior to this tragedy.