Montana Murder-Suicide: Deer Lodge Man Shoots Wife And Children, Burns Family Home

A Montana murder-suicide has Deer Lodge police trying to determine why a local man would shoot and kill his wife and three children before setting his family’s rural cabin ablaze.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, an orphaned Moose calf killed in Montana caused many on social media to criticize wildlife officials.

Authorities in Anaconda-Deer Lodge County were alerted on Sunday morning when the Deer Lodge man called someone he knew and warned that he planned on killing both his family and himself in a murder-suicide. Unfortunately, police did not arrive in time to stop the killings.

“The home is located in a remote, rugged area, and we didn’t immediately know where it was,” said Anaconda-Deer Lodge Police Chief Tim Barkell, according to Reuters.

Barkell said the site of the Montana murder-suicide was located 15 miles outside of the town in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. By the time authorities arrived, flames were pouring from the upper part of the home and the smoke and heat prevented entry into the Deer Lodge home.

When firefighters put the flames out, they entered the home to find a tragic scene.

“This is something you don’t want to see, especially with the three children, it’s …,” said Anaconda police detective Steve Barclay, describing how the man shot his and wife and youngest child inside the home only to walk outside and kill his other children. He then carried the bodies of the children inside and laid them down on a bed.

Anaconda-Deer Lodge Coroner Gerald Thomas said the husband used a handgun during the Montana murder-suicide, and it is said the 59-year-old man shot and killed his 38-year-old wife and three children, ages 1, 4, and 6. The victims’ bodies were transported Sunday to the Montana State Crime Lab in Missoula for autopsies.

Deer Lodge authorities have not released the names of the victims yet, since they are having difficulty contacting the next of kin, but residents in the area can’t believe a murder-suicide would happen in their area.

“Why? How? It doesn’t make sense. It’s not true. It’s somebody else. We just don’t believe it,” said Deer Lodge resident Theresa Yockim, according to KXLF. “Everybody says the same thing, it doesn’t make sense, they were friendly, they were happy, they were kind to each other.”

Yockim recalls being at the family’s home last summer and she only remembers a happy family. She says they all waved and said hello, and the husband even picked up the youngest child’s hand to wave at her.

Detective Barclay says they are still trying to determine a motive for the Montana murder-suicide.

“Trying to establish a background on the guy, trying to get a criminal history on him anything to see where these people came from anything about their past,” he said.

[Image via NBC]