Eight family members killed in Montana home shooting and fire
A 44-year-old man opened fire on relatives during a Sunday dinner outside Billings, Montana, killing eight people, including four children, before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police responded to a home outside Billings, Montana, on Sunday evening after hearing gunshots from the backyard. The shooter, identified as 44-year-old Alan Smith, killed eight relatives—four adults and four children—before sustaining a self-inflicted gunshot wound and later dying. The house subsequently caught fire and was reduced to its foundation, complicating the investigation, according to Billings Police spokesperson Jeff Stovall.
Victims included a great-grandmother in her 90s, two of Smith's parents, his younger sister, and four children ranging from ages 7 to 15. A 12-year-old girl called 911 from inside the home before the fire spread. Firefighters battled the blaze until about 1 a.m. Monday, according to Billings Fire Department Chief Matt Hoppel.
Neighbors confirmed that the family had gathered for a weekly dinner. Smith had been asked to move out of his parents' home weeks earlier and returned unexpectedly on Sunday. He had no prior criminal record, and relatives described him as reclusive, spending most of his time alone in his room.
The incident is the 22nd mass killing recorded in the United States this year, according to a database maintained by the Associated Press and USA Today. Domestic disputes account for a majority of such incidents, said criminologist James Alan Fox of Northeastern University.