Two-year-old found bound, gagged in Banning home where triple murders took place

BANNING - An investigation was under way today into a triple murder at a home in Banning where the killers left a toddler bound and gagged in a closet. Banning police Chief Leonard Purvis said police were called to a house in the 100 block of Phillips Street in eastern Banning around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday after a friend of the occupants discovered the bodies of a man and two women. Relatives identified the man as Demetrius Earl Hunt, 42, the child's father. The names of the women were not immediately released, but authorities said one was the toddler's mother. Officers looked for the boy for three hours after being told by relatives that a child lived in the house. Their failure to initially find him raised fears of a kidnapping. Police said the boy was found -- his hands bound with tape and his mouth covered -- after a forensic technician outside the house heard him whimpering. He was taken to San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital, where he was found to be dehydrated but otherwise unhurt. Still, Purvis described the treatment of the boy as ''horrific'' and ''atrocious.'' Purvis Hunt, 62, said his son was found dead next to a girlfriend and a friend. ''It was a dope gang," he said in remarks reported by the Press- Enterprise. Police did not immediately confirm that drugs played a role in the slayings, the first in Banning this year. In another interview, Hunt told KPSP, ''The picture I have, is that my son invited some friends in and when he turned his back, they shot him in the head. ''Then they went and strangled one young lady. That's what I was told, that she looked like she had been strangled. And the other young lady they found, she was laying on her face. They didn't know how she had died." According to court records, Demetrius Hunt had a more than decade-long history that included repeat drunken driving violations, possession of cocaine, growing marijuana and spousal abuse. Police did not immediately say how the victims died or if possible suspects have been identified.

Three People Found Dead in Banning House

BANNING - A man and two women were found dead inside a Banning home today in what a family member of one of the slain described as a drug- related hit. The bodies were located shortly after noon in a house in the 100 block of Phillips Street, between Ramsey and Williams streets, on the east end of the city, according to Banning police. A 2-year-old boy who belonged to two of the victims was located bound and gagged in a hidden room, police said. The child was taken to San Gorgonio Medical Center in Banning for treatment. He was expected to be all right. Purvis Hunt, the father of the 42-year-old homeowner, whose name has not been released, told The Press-Enterprise that his son and the two women were targeted by a ''dope gang.'' Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive for the deadly attack, and no suspects have been identified.