TALIAFERRO COUNTY, Ga. — A 38-year-old man facing murder charges made some bizarre claims before deputies found his parents dead.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
On June 6, around 11 a.m., deputies in Sumter County, S.C., received a call about a disturbance involving a gun on Green View Parkway. The suspect left before deputies arrived.
Witnesses told investigators the suspect, identified as Nikolas Steven Kirchner, 38, pointed a gun at multiple people and threatened to shoot them.
Investigators said he allegedly held a family member at gunpoint and forced another to go inside the home to get someone else, threatening to shoot the hostage in the head if they didn’t do what he said.
According to reports, a family member came out of the house armed, causing Kirchner to get his car and drive away while the family member was on the phone with dispatch.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Rick Ross Car Show causes traffic troubles at another event miles away
- Former ‘RHOA’ star Kim Zolciak, ex-Atlanta Falcon Kroy Biermann removed from mansion, court docs say
- Metro Atlanta parents ‘made a dumb decision’ by giving 1-year-old beer, report says
Just before 4 p.m., Taliaferro County deputies received a 911 call about a driver who saw a suspicious person on the shoulder of the highway.
The witness told deputies the man was wearing a white and red baseball cap, kneeling with one hand raised. When deputies searched the man’s name in the database, they confirmed it was Kirchner.
The TCSO said they also learned he was the same person wanted out of Sumter, S.C. and was a suspect in a recent homicide in Pinellas County, Fla.
During the investigation, officials said the 38-year-old admitted to killing two people and said that he had abandoned a stolen Nissan Pathfinder along Interstate 20. Deputies found the car in Pinellas County, Fla.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Simultaneously, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s office in Fla. was conducting its own investigation into two homicides.
Pinellas County authorities said, around 12:35 p.m., that Friday afternoon, deputies executed a welfare check at a home on Saunders Avenue in Largo, after a company said an employee did not show up to work.
When deputies arrived, they found Elizabeth Lee Kirchner, 53, and Steven Eric Kirchner, 64, dead in the living room from apparent gunshot wounds.
Detectives said they learned the victims’ son, Nicholas Kirchner, left the home. Detectives got a call from Sumter County authorities regarding the incident Nicholas was involved in earlier.
According to officials, during the incident, Nicholas Kirchner said, “I’ve already killed two people – I’ll kill some more.”
Nicholas admitted multiple times that he killed his parents and described it as a “righteous kill,” according to the PCSO.
Nicholas was ultimately arrested and taken into custody by the Taliaferro County Sheriff’s Office.
Nicholas was transported to the McDuffie County Jail in Georgia with a felony warrant for two counts of first-degree murder premeditated.
©2025 Cox Media Group
