Eight family members, including 4 children, killed in Montana home shooting, house fire—suspect dead

Eight people were killed on Sunday night, including four children, after a man opened fire and set a Billings, Montana home ablaze. The suspect in the incident, who has not been identified, later died at a local hospital from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office said of the incident, “The initial investigation shows that this event started as a family disturbance and was not a random act of violence where the parties were unknown to each other. There is no further danger to the public,” per CBS News.

Police received a call about an active shooter at the Billings home at around 6 pm local time on Sunday, with an officer arriving on scene within 15 minutes, police said. The officer heard shots fired from the back of the home upon arriving at the scene, and shortly after, flames began to engulf the home.

Adam Ghekiere spoke with The US Sun about the loss of eight family members in the incident. He said his two children, Landon, 15, and 12-year-old Charlotte, were killed, as well as his wife, Megan. Megan’s two children, Ghekiere’s stepchildren, were killed in the incident as well. The two stepchildren were identified in a fundraiser as six-year-old Charlotte and 15-year-old Landon. Additionally, the children’s 92-year-old wheelchair-bound great-grandma and two other family members also died.

Ghekiere, an airport rescue firefighter, had been at an airshow when he heard on the fire department communications system that an incident was unfolding in the area where his wife’s parents lived. “I tried calling the house and no one answered,” he said. “I checked my kids’ locations, both Landon and Charlotte, and no one answered. I called Megan’s cellphone too.”

“By the time we got to the house, they wouldn’t let us get any closer because it was still under an active shooter status. I feared the worst right then.”

He said he believed the shooter hadn’t expected his children to be at the home, and that the incident unfolded after his extended family started holding a grudge against his parents.