Deputies said they believe the son -- Tyler Jones -- shot his 38-year-old mother Glenda Pulley, and then killed himself. Family members said Tyler Jones was 10 years old.
"I was horrified, horrified," said Patricia Richardson, a friend of the family. "This is very sad, very sad. She (Glenda Pulley) had high hopes for the future -- looking forward to dreams."
Deputies said they were called to the home at about 10:45 a.m. Saturday by relatives who had broken down the door to Pulley's house after the relatives could not find Pulley and Jones.
The relatives found the mother shot in the back of the head and her son lying on the floor with a gunshot wound to his chin, Warren County Sheriff Johnny Williams said.
"They found a female lying in the bed and a juvenile lying at the foot of the bed," he said.
Deputies are treating the case as a murder-suicide. But, they said, they will not know for sure if it was a murder-suicide until the North Carolina Medical Examiner's Office in Chapel Hill completes autopsies of the bodies. Williams said he expects to have the results by Monday or Tuesday.
Friends and neighbors said the Pulleys were a close-knit family. Several family members lived along the same street as Glenda Pulley and her son. They declined to speak to WRAL-TV on camera.
Williams said the family was "shocked" by what happened and refused to believe that Tyler Jones may be responsible for the deaths. "But we have to take facts -- facts of the case and the evidence they got to make the determination," Williams said. "And that's what we did this time."
He said a shotgun was found near Jones' body and a note written by the son was found under a pillow on a bed. In the note, Williams said, Jones wrote that he was sorry for his actions.
Based upon additional information the sheriff's office has collected, Williams said, Jones had not exhibited any previous signs of being troubled, emotionally distressed, or having problems with anger management.
He was a student at Christian Faith Academy in Creedmoor.
"He and my grandson went fishing, played ball, did stuff like that together," said Eugene Williams, a distant relative of Tyler Jones. "I can't believe he done it. Not his age, his size."
Glenda Pulley was divorced from Tyler Jones' father, who lives in Georgia.
Pulley also had an older son living with her at the time of her death. Her older son, about 20 years old, was not at home when the shootings occurred. He's now staying with his grandparents.
"It's hurting," Eugene Williams said. "All of them [are] hurting."
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