Content warning: The following report contains details of a violent incident, including descriptions of sensitive footage that may be distressing to some readers. Viewer discretion is advised.
On Tuesday, a jury in Rankin County, Mississippi, viewed security footage that appears to show Carly Gregg calmly walking through her family’s home before three gunshots are heard, Cape {town} Etc reports.
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The video, recorded on 19 March around 4:15pm, was captured by a kitchen security camera in the Brandon residence where Gregg lived with her mother, Ashley Smylie, and stepfather, Heath Smylie.
In the footage published by Law&Crime, Gregg is seen letting the family’s two golden retrievers inside the house through an exterior kitchen door. With her hands behind her back, she walks past the kitchen and, moments later, gunshots and a scream are heard. She then returns to the kitchen, sits down and picks up her cell phone.
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At the time of the shooting, Gregg was 14 years old. She is accused of fatally shooting her mother, a teacher at Northwest Rankin High School, where Gregg is currently a student at 15.
Earlier that day, Heath Smylie took the stand.
‘They loved each other so much. Just everything she did she planned out for Carly and around Carly,’ he testified.
He also mentioned that Gregg had experienced depression and was seeing a therapist.
Prosecutor Kathryn Newman asked Heath to describe what he found when he entered the house on the day of the shooting. ‘Everything seemed pretty normal. I came on in and when I opened the door to the kitchen there, a gun went off in my face before the door — I don’t know — was 3 or 4 inches wide,’ he recalled. ‘Everything went kind of fast from then. It’s a blur.’
Heath testified that the gun discharged twice more after the first shot, and he said Gregg shot him from about a foot away, grazing his shoulder. ‘She was screaming out of her mind, scared,’ he described. ‘Like she had seen a demon, or something.’
Audio from a security camera in the garage captured screaming, including Heath’s voice asking, ‘Carly, what’s wrong?’ He said he managed to get the gun away from her but noted how quickly she ran. ‘It was very, very evident to me that something was off with Carly,’ he stated. ‘She was so fast.’
Heath revealed that his wife kept the .357-caliber Magnum in a cubby on her side of the bed for years.
The prosecution called two juvenile witnesses, but Rankin County Circuit Court Judge Dewey Arthur prohibited video and audio recordings of their testimonies due to their age.
One witness recalled, ‘She said, “Have you ever seen a dead body? Does it make you squeamish?” Then she was like, “My mom’s in there,” and I peeked my head in the door.’
The witness described Ashley Smylie with her arms crossed and a towel over her head.
Another witness, a 17-year-old senior, said he met Gregg in 2022 at a summer camp and mentioned that she had used marijuana and ‘magic’ mushrooms, adding, ‘I believe she’s done cocaine once.’
On Monday, the jury heard a 911 call in which a distraught Heath Smylie told the dispatcher that Gregg had tried to kill him after shooting her mother.
During this, Gregg was seen crying and wiping away tears as the recording played. She also became emotional when body camera footage from the first responding deputy was shown. The deputy noted that Gregg fled the scene but was later apprehended.
According to WLBT3, Gregg will be charged as an adult and faces a potential sentence of 20 years to life in prison if convicted. The trial is expected to continue throughout the week.
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Picture: Screenshot / Law&Crime