BILLINGS, Mont. – Investigators worked through the blackened remains of a Montana home one shovelful at a time, searching for clues after four generations of one family were killed while gathered for Sunday dinner.
Authorities said 44-year-old Alan Smith fatally shot his grandmother, his parents, his younger sister and her children before turning the gun on himself shortly after officers arrived. Multiple fires had been set inside the suburban house on the outskirts of Billings, officials said. Smith had previously lived at the home but was asked to leave several weeks before the killings, according to police and surviving relatives.
“There’s many questions that will come from this investigation,” Yellowstone County Sheriff Kent O’Donnell said at a news conference Wednesday. “Some of those questions we probably won’t ever be able to answer, because all the parties that will have those answers are not here to answer them for us.”
Among the victims were Owen and Chloe Ireland and their stepsiblings, Landon and Charlotte Ghekiere. Owen, 13, was remembered by his father as the “perfect big brother” and a devoted protector of Chloe. Landon, 15, had been looking forward to getting his driver’s license this week. Charlotte, 12, had a deep love for the natural world, especially insects, neighbor and family friend Jennifer Mercer said.
A candlelight vigil was scheduled for Thursday night as the Billings community mourned the family.
Police had no prior contact with the shooter
The shooting unfolded at the home of Smith’s parents, Dana Smith, who had retired from the Air Force and Boeing, and Barb Smith, a retired teacher.
The Smiths were originally from the Seattle area. Brad Ireland, Owen and Chloe’s father, said that after he and Megan Ghekiere divorced six years ago, she relocated to Montana with their children. There, she met Adam Ghekiere, who later became her second husband and was at work when the shooting took place.
Her parents soon followed to Billings, buying a house near their daughter, and her brother moved in. Police had not been called to the home before and had no previous contact with Alan Smith, the sheriff said.
Megan Ghekiere, 39, worked in healthcare, Mercer said. The eighth victim was Dana’s mother, Evelyn Smith, 92, who used a wheelchair and lived in a nearby retirement community.
Arriving officers heard shots and saw smoke
Smith showed up in the neighborhood at 5:49 p.m. Sunday, O’Donnell said, and just after 6 p.m., one of the females in the home called 911. He said he couldn’t confirm who made it. But Mercer identified the caller as 12-year-old Charlotte, saying she tried to save her family.
The first arriving officers confronted Smith, and he ran back inside. The officers heard gunfire and saw smoke in the home, O’Donnell said. Smith then ran into the backyard and shot himself, authorities said.
The home quickly became engulfed in flames. The neighborhood homes operate on wells, and there were no hydrants required there, so firefighters had to truck in water.
Autopsies are still being conducted, O’Donnell said.
The sheriff said police had recovered weapons from the scene but he did not describe them or say what type of gun or guns Smith used. Investigators had “some idea” of what might have prompted the shooting, but said law enforcement is focused on the crime scene for now, adding, “Some of this is the family’s story to tell.”
Brad Ireland described Smith as a “hermit” who spent most of his days on the computer. “There were many red flags and many people spoke out,” he told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “No one listened.”
Alan Smith had attended Eastern Washington University but had been unable to find or hold a job, he said.
Memorial features teddy bears and touching messages
At the mailboxes in the neighborhood, a makeshift memorial has grown with teddy bears, family photos, flowers, balloons and a notebook to leave messages. One classmate wrote they were “sorry that they wouldn’t see them in school this year,” O’Donnell said.
Among the items investigators found in the home were a photo album, largely intact, and a family Bible, almost entirely unscathed, O’Donnell said. Neighbors have offered law enforcement at the scene water and food as they dig through the wreckage of the fire.
“There are rays of good and sunshine that come through this,” O’Donnell said.
Billings Mayor Mike Nelson said it would be hard to find someone in the city of 120,000 who did not have some connection to the victims or feel an impact from their deaths.
“There was shock at first and now there are people who are deeply upset, and they should be. There are people who are angry, and that’s OK too,” he said. “We’ll come together and we’ll support the family.”
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Johnson reported from Seattle, Schuettler from Phoenix. Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker in Washington, D.C., contributed.
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Schuettler is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
