Manti » When asked whether his two brothers planned their nearly simultaneous suicides together, Jurell Cloward at first said he didn't know, then he gave another answer.

"I don't think they planned it," Cloward said. "They just came to a peak where things piled up and they made the decisions they did."

Ezra Cloward, 15, killed himself just before 9 p.m. Wednesday in Manti Canyon. Delano Cloward, 21, shot himself to death in his family's yard just minutes later. Police initially thought the pair may have had an agreement to end their lives, but their brother thinks Ezra's actions pushed Delano Cloward to his limit.

The "peak" described by Jurell Cloward, who spoke for his family outside their home in Manti on Thursday, was an accumulation of depression, trouble at school and the concern over state and national affairs.

The five Cloward children were raised in Sanpete County, and like most people here they rode all-terrain vehicles and hunted in the mountains that buttress the town on two sides.

Delano Cloward had trouble with depression. He tried counseling, Jurell Cloward said, and tried alternative remedies like herbs and a strict diet of vegetables and protein. Delano Cloward had worked at Walmart but had not been working recently. The depression persisted, Jurell Cloward said.

"There was no particular trauma," Jurell Cloward said. "It was just a buildup. Year after year being stuck in the same situation not being able to get out of it."

Ezra Cloward attended Ephraim Middle School. He had academic trouble, Jurell Cloward said, and trouble with the other kids at school. He also was impressionable, and Jurell Cloward believes some of Delano Cloward's depression transferred to Ezra.

Jurell Cloward suspects his brothers also were impacted by social strife. He described his family as being disillusioned by the ongoing debates about health care, federalism, terrorism and the economy and how no one is producing solutions.

"People are separating," he added. "It just seems like it's all falling apart."

At 8:56 p.m. Wednesday, Delano Cloward drove up to the Cloward home and told someone to call 911 because his brother had shot himself in Manti Canyon, said sheriff's Sgt. Greg Peterson. Then at 9:03 p.m., there was another 911 call, this time from Jurell Cloward, saying Delano Cloward had just shot himself in the head in the family's yard. Delano Cloward was pronounced dead at Gunnison Valley Hospital.

Deputies found Ezra Cloward's body about 9:30 p.m., three miles beyond the mouth of the canyon. The body was alone near the main road, Peterson said.

Peterson said detectives are waiting for autopsy results on Ezra Cloward to confirm he committed suicide. Peterson said they don't know why the brothers drove into the canyon or whether their suicides were a pact.

"There's nobody really to talk to to be able to clarify that," Peterson said.

Jurell Cloward said the family likely will hold a dual service for Delano and Ezra Cloward. Jurell Cloward said his family also has discussed attending grief counseling together.

Jurell Cloward told his brothers' story Thursday outside the family's white, one-story home. There were abrasions on the knuckles of his right hand from where he punched a wall after the deaths. Mourners came to the house in the late afternoon to offer condolences.

"I feel a little bit of love," Jurell Cloward said. "I love them. I'm distraught. I'm hurt. Agony; wrenching agony.

"But I love them. I'll always love them."