Things should be scary on Halloween, but they shouldn’t be real. However, for a 12-year-old boy trick-or-treating with his family the Halloween was scary enough and turned really tragic. The youngster was shot dead and his father and brother were wounded. The murderer opened fire from within a home in central South Carolina.

The suspect is 22-year-old Quentin Patrick. He is now in police custody and faces charges of murder and three counts of assault and battery with intent to kill, The Associated Press reported quoting a jail official.

The family of the dead young boy was on its way home from a downtown event, but it decided to stop at a few homes in the 200 block of Wise Drive. They – the father and his three children - approached a home at about 8:30 p.m. EDT and that’s when the tragedy occurred. The mother of the children remained in the vehicle.

As they reached the door of the house, they were all shot at.

“The family heard what they thought were fireworks,” Sumter Police Chief Patty Patterson said. “Someone had opened fire on them from inside the residence.”

The 12-year-old boy suffered severe wounds that eventually proved to be fatal. He died at the hospital. The father and another one of his children were also taken to Tuomey Regional Medical Center., but their wounds were not life threatening.

"The investigation is continuing into what has been a very tragic evening," Patterson said. "Our sorrow and sympathy goes out to this family."

There were several other people in the house besides the shooter, but they aren’t expected to be charged.

We’ll keep you updated on this as the story develops.