Elderly Neighbor Breaks Into Home & Kills 11-Year-Old Girl - Then Cops Found What Was Back At His House...

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

An 11-year-old girl is dead and her 80-year-old neighbor has been charged with her murder — and what cops found after they began to investigate has made this case even more awful.

Late Wednesday night, a man named Reuben Arthur Leonard (pictured in his mugshot, above left) broke into a neighbor’s home armed with an AR-15 assault-style rifle, per the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. And once inside, he shot 11-year-old Ashly McFarland (pictured above, right) first. Unimaginable.

Ashly’s family members rushed in and grabbed Leonard — and thankfully were able to restrain him until cops showed up. Paramedics rushed to the home, too, but unfortunately they got there too late to save Ashly. The young girl’s father was also shot in the melee, according to reports, and Leonard allegedly attempted to shoot other people inside the home as well before being detained.

Now, Leonard has been charged with murder in Ashly’s death, as well as seven other counts of attempted murder for the other family members who were also present in the home.

As for what led to the killing, WLTX reports that Leonard had allegedly been to the family’s home multiple times in the recent past to complain about them holding target practice shooting in their yard. He was so mad about the target practice that he even called the police multiple times, reports state.

But here’s the thing: for one, when cops came out to adjudicate the dispute, they found that the target practice being conducted on the family’s property was entirely legal. Not only that, but according to police docs uncovered by Law & Crime, the family’s home was “nowhere near” Leonard’s property.

WTF?!

Regardless, things all came to a head on Monday, two days before the shooting. On that day, Leonard was officially charged with breach of peace after he visited the family’s home one more time. Cops say that final tussle was then what likely led to him coming back on Wednesday night, breaking in, and shooting that poor little girl to death.

But here’s where things get even crazier. After arresting Leonard, cops went to his home and discovered his 76-year-old wife Felicia Leonard also dead of a gunshot wound in the couple’s garage. Cops don’t yet have a motive for her shooting, though Leonard is (obviously) the suspect in that killing, as well. Chilling…

Speaking to the media about the horrible chain of events, Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis said:

“This is a horrific incident, and our investigators are working diligently to uncover all the details. … [The attack] was unprovoked, senseless, and something like this should never occur.”

Leonard is currently in jail on the murder and attempted murder charges, and is scheduled to next go before a judge on June 6.

You can watch more about this tragic situation (below):