Jan 13, 2026 By Garrett Neese 4 min read

A New Freeport teenager accused of fatally shooting his mother and wounding his father had been planning an attack on his family for as long as a year and a half.

“He thought when he killed his parents, he’d go on a killing spree, and gain enough power to take over the country,” state police Trooper Justin Yeckley testified during the Monday preliminary hearing for Jarrod Noll.

The 18-year-old allegedly shot and killed Mary Noll, 52, and wounded James Noll, 65, with a gunshot to the back of the head at his family’s home Dec. 27 on Garrison Ridge Road. All charges lodged against him, including criminal homicide and attempted homicide, were held for court following the hearing.

Police arrested Jarrod Noll on Dec. 28 in Hundred, W.Va. Yeckley said he had the .22 Beretta believed to have been used in the shooting.

Jarrod Noll originally planned to get his parents and two younger siblings in a single room, because “he thought it would be easier to kill them all at one time,” Yeckley said. Those plans were disrupted when Jarrod Noll found his mother outside, the trooper testified.

Yeckley’s testimony drew gasps from the crowd. James Noll, who had just testified about the day of the shooting, buried his face in his hands, saying “Oh, God.”

James Noll said he hadn’t noticed any changes in behavior in his son leading up to the shooting. He described the events of the day leading up to the shooting as “perfectly normal”: a regular Friday trip to Waynesburg to go shopping, stop by the library and pick up mail.

“I absolutely do not understand the situation at all,” he said during his testimony. “I have guesses, things that might have influenced what happened, but I don’t know. I want to understand.”

James Noll said he had been inside the house with his two younger children when he heard what sounded like firecrackers outside. Jarrod Noll arrived at the house and told him he had heard neighbors trespassing, James Noll said, which he discounted because of his son’s agitated state.

His son had looked “unusual,” James Noll said, with light-colored, bluish lips and speaking through clenched teeth.

When the two went outside to look for neighbors, Jarrod Noll fired a shot into the back of his father’s head, lodging partway through his skull, James Noll said.

“I turned around and said, ‘Jarrod, you shot me,'” he said. “That was the last time I saw him until now.”

He had alerted police to the shooting with a 911 call.

After his son fled, Noll said he found his wife lying near a chicken coop with a gunshot wound to her face.

When troopers arrived on scene, they found Mary Noll breathing but unresponsive. She was taken to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W. Va, where she was pronounced dead later that afternoon.

James Noll was later taken to Ruby in stable condition and later released. He said he had not wanted to go to the hospital, wanting to take care of his family and make sure police didn’t harm his son.

“I remember specifically telling police, ‘Don’t shoot him,'” James Noll said in court Monday. “I want to find out what happened and help my son.”

As he walked back to the gallery after his testimony, he leaned in to his son and said, “I love you, Jarrod.”

Before officers escorted Jarrod Noll from the courtroom, he had a longer conversation with his father, telling him he was sorry.

James Noll told his son he forgave him, and advised him on what to do while incarcerated, such as getting a general equivalency degree.

Dave Pollock, one of the public defenders representing Jarrod Noll, said they were still developing the defense, having met the defendant for the first time less than a week ago.

“You have to expect in a case with consequences as serious as this, the charges will be bound over,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to be done to make sure the right outcome occurs.”

Greene County District Attorney Briana Vanata said she thought she’d clearly met the burden of proof in the case.

“It’s clearly a case of homicide and attempted homicide, and we’ve sort of uncovered the ‘why’ at this point,” she said. “So we’re just glad that the judge bound everything over to court.”

Jarrod Noll is scheduled for a formal arraignment in Greene County Court of Common Pleas on Feb. 17.