[bloodrayne]

Teen Kills Mom With Sword Before Police Kill Him

Boy injured two others before turning his sword on police.

Huron, South Dakota - Police are trying to figure out why a sword-wielding teenager killed his mother and injured three others Friday before being gunned down by officers.

"We don't have any background or any events leading up to the assault this morning that would give any indication of a motive," Huron Police Chief Doug Schmitt said Friday.

When officers arrived at the home just before 6 a.m., they found the attacker's 14-year-old sister, Rebekah Gilchrist, with cuts to her arms and hands.

The officers then spotted 16-year-old Josh Gilchrist wielding a long sword.

Schmitt said the teen started swinging the sword and struck one of the officers several times before the others fired multiple shots and killed the young attacker.

Police in the home then found the body of the teen's mother, 49-year-old Betty Gilchrist, a former teacher at Minneota High School in Minneota, Minn., and an injured foreign-exchange student, who was treated at Huron Regional Medical Center and later released.

Rebekah Gilchrist was taken to a hospital in Sioux Falls.

"To all those concerned and praying for Bekah, she is stable and improving with non-life-threatening injuries," the father, Jon Gilchrist, said in a statement.

Police said Jon Gilchrist was not home during the incident.

The injured officer, Dan Kight, 34, was treated at Huron Regional Medical Center and released. Schmitt said Kight's uniform was cut by the sword.

Betty Gilchrist was the children's librarian at the Huron Public Library.

Terry Nebelsick, principal of Huron High School, said counselors and administrators met with the faculty before the start of school Friday. Many students had already heard about the incident by the time the school made a formal announcement around 8:15 a.m.