Prosecutors said Doerman, 32, admitted to planning the killings for months.
MONROE TOWNSHIP, Ohio (NewsNation) — Bodycam footage shows the arrest of Chad Doerman, who is accused of shooting his three boys "execution-style" in front of their mother, right before Father's Day.
Prosecutors said Doerman, 32, admitted to planning the killings for months. Doerman, who is also accused of wounding the boys' mother at the family’s home, has been charged with aggravated murder, authorities said. The victims' names have not been released.
David Gast, Clermont County's chief prosecutor of municipal court, said during Doerman's arraignment Friday that one of the boys tried to flee into a nearby field but Doerman “hunted” his son down and brought him back to their home before killing him.
Gast called the killings the worst crime he’d ever seen.
Doerman's bail has been set at $20 million. Court records did not indicate whether he was represented by a lawyer at his arraignment. He is currently being held in Clermont County Jail.
Officials have not released a motive behind the shootings.
The murder of the three boys has shaken the community of Monroe Township, Ohio. There were at least two candlelight vigils over the weekend to remember their lives, and there's another one planned for next week to also thank the police who showed up on the scene.
Deputies responded to the home in Monroe Township shortly before 4:30 p.m. on June 15 after receiving a pair of 911 calls, one apparently from the mother who was screaming that “her babies had been shot” and another from a passing motorist who said a girl was running down the street saying her father was killing people, a news release from the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office said.
The deputies found three boys, ages 3, 4, and 7, outside the home with gunshot wounds and tried to save their lives, but the children died at the scene.
The sheriff's office said the 34-year-old mother, who was not identified, was outside the home and had suffered a gunshot to the hand while trying to shield her sons from their father. She was transported to a hospital with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening.
Doerman was found sitting on a stoop at the home and was taken into custody without incident.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
