Kansas father kills four children, their mother and himself

A Kansas man fatally shot his four young children and their mother Tuesday morning, then killed himself after calling 911 to say he had killed his family and was about to take his own life, authorities said.

Winfield Police Chief Robbie DeLong said officers received the call at about 8:50 a.m. from a man who identified himself as the shooter. Officers were already responding to an unrelated car crash about two blocks away when they were sent to the single-family home.

“At approximately 8:50 a.m., our officers received a 911 call from a male individual who stated that he had killed his entire family and he was getting ready to kill himself,” DeLong said at a news conference.

The first officer to arrive approached the home but pulled back after hearing a single gunshot, DeLong said. Police then treated the scene as a barricade situation, setting up a perimeter around the house while awaiting additional support.

“At that point, they retreated. There was no other indication of any other loss of life, and so standard protocol was to set up a perimeter and start working the incident as a barricade situation,” DeLong said, according to The Guardian.

A regional SWAT team and Cowley County sheriff’s deputies joined the response. A little more than two hours after the 911 call, around 11 a.m., authorities breached the home and found six people dead.

Police identified them as Ronald H. Williams, 53; Kelly L. George, 44; Carol A. Williams, 9; Ronald H. Williams Jr., 7; Sarah K. Williams, 5; and Kelly M. McGee Williams, 3. The Guardian identified the youngest child as Kelly Magee-Williams, 3.

“I want to make something very clear to the community,” DeLong said. “This was an isolated incident. There is no ongoing threat.”

DeLong said police had contact with Williams as recently as the past few weeks and had received reports of him showing “aggressive behavior,” including confronting and yelling at people in public, The Guardian reported. Officers had also previously responded to the area near the family’s home after reports of gunfire, but DeLong said they were unable to find evidence or determine a source.

“We have calls of just aggressive behavior, but not enough really to act on,” he said. He also described “some erratic behavior” but said he could not “say anything would have indicated that we would be where we are today,” according to The Guardian.

DeLong said the shooting was among the most difficult scenes he had encountered in more than two decades with the department. “In my 20-plus years here, no, I can’t remember anything remotely close to this,” he said.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has joined the inquiry. DeLong said one of the key goals is to determine a motive. KBI Special Agent in Charge Jason Diaz said agents would seek to interview relatives, neighbors and others who knew Williams. The Guardian reported that local and state police officers were also being connected with mental health resources.

Williams was a registered sex offender, according to the Kansas sex offender registry cited by NBC News. NBC News reported that Kansas criminal court records show a judge accepted guilty pleas by Williams in 1998 to two felony counts of attempted indecent liberties with a child and one count of battery involving the same victim, a 15-year-old girl. The Guardian reported the guilty pleas were accepted in 1999.

The Guardian reported that the Kansas killings came two weeks after a Michigan man fatally shot his wife and six children before their bodies were found in their burning home in Grand Haven Township. Investigators said that fire had been intentionally set. Citing the nonpartisan Gun Violence Archive, The Guardian reported that the Michigan mass killing was the 13th in the United States this year and that the Kansas killings raised the total to 15, with at least nine meeting the definition of family annihilation.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 or go to 988lifeline.org to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.