Trigger Warning: This article contains references to the alleged suicide that some readers may find distressing.

A 44-year-old Montana man shot and killed eight of his own family members, including four children, at a family dinner in Billings on Sunday, August 23, before setting the house ablaze and turning the gun on himself.

The gunman, identified as Alan Smith, showed up unannounced at the weekly dinner around 6 p.m. and opened fire on the gathering. Killed were his parents, Barbara and Dana Smith; his sister, Megan Ghekiere; her children, Landon and Charlotte Ghekiere; her stepchildren, Owen and Chloe Ireland; and Evelyn Smith, Dana’s 92-year-old mother.

Smith used to live with his parents for years in the family house after moving from Seattle, but they asked him to move out a few weeks before the shooting. Brad Ireland, whose ex-wife and two kids were among the dead in the shooting, said, “There were many red flags, and many people spoke out. No one listened.”

Ireland said Smith struggled to hold down a job and lived an isolated lifestyle where he’d spend most of his days on the computer. “No one knew what he did there 24/7.” Ireland revealed Smith did not have a history of violent behavior, but he was verbally abusive.

 

Adam Ghekiere, Megan’s husband and father of Landon and Charlotte, was working as a rescue firefighter at a local airshow when he heard about the shooting and tried to reach out to the family. 

Ghekiere told The U.S. Sun, “I tried calling the house, and no one answered. I checked my kids’ locations, both Landon and Charlotte, and no one answered. 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.”

According to Ghekiere, Smith had harbored resentment towards his parents for some time, leading up to the mass shooting and did not expect the children to be present that evening. Even after the house was ablaze, gunshots were heard. Emergency responders arrived after 6:10 p.m.; 911 dispatch audio reported there were several gunshots fired, and a person was taken away with a gunshot wound to the head. 

 

At the time of the shooting, Charlotte Ghekiere managed to call 911 in an attempt to get help for her family. A family friend and neighbor, Jennifer Mercer, called her a hero. She said, “The one thing we do know is that Charlotte was the hero. Charlotte called 911, and she tried to save her family. And that’s something the family does want out there.”

When the police arrived, the house was covered in flames; even neighbors had to be evacuated until the fire was contained.

Disclaimer: The Inquisitr could not independently verify the facts of this incident and is reporting based on the information available within the public video record.