Terminally Ill Woman Witnesses Murder Suicide

Paul Gilkey, in a dispute over his dying wife’s care, shot his son and two sisters-in-law in his living room. After killing the three of them in front of his terminally ill wife he went outside and killed himself. The dispute was with his sisters-in-law over what to feed his wife.

Gilkey spared his wife and his stepson. The stepson fled the house after Gilkey killed himself to get cell reception and call the police.

Ralph Sowers III, the stepson, says in the 911 call,

“He let me leave because I have kids. He tried to shoot my brother, and my brother was hiding behind me. And then he kept telling me to `Duck! Duck! Duck!”

Gilkey shot both women at close range and then his son. He went out on the porch and fatally shot himself in the chest. When the police pulled up to the house he was still standing upright but dead.

Gilkey had a long history of violence. He had served 10 years in prison for killing a man in Georgia. he also has done time for assault.

Peggy Gilkey, one of Paul’s sisters said,

“He was really trying to take care of her, but he felt like people weren’t letting him. He felt as though his wife’s relatives were taking over her care, and he was upset because items were being taken from the home”

Gilkey had recently gone to the local cemetery and bought three plots for himself, his son and his wife. Surviving relatives said that Gilkey was unpredictable and unstable.