A man tragically killed 8 of his relatives, including 4 children, during a family dinner at a home in Billings, Montana, before committing suicide, according to a family spokesperson who spoke to the Associated Press on Tuesday.
Jennifer Mercer, who initiated an online fundraising campaign to help cover funeral costs and other expenses, revealed that the victims spanned 4 generations of the family, ranging from a great-grandmother in her nineties to a 7-year-old girl.
Police reported that they responded to a call regarding the home on Sunday evening and heard gunshots from its back area before the entire house caught fire.
Several deaths were confirmed, including one individual who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Second Mass Killing in 2026
This incident marks the second mass killing in the United States this year, according to data from the Associated Press and USA Today, in collaboration with Northeastern University.
James Alan Fox, a criminology professor at Northeastern University and manager of the database, noted that 15 of these incidents were due to family disputes. This is higher than the average, as about half of mass killings in the U.S. are related to familial conflicts.
The Montana incident is the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since April, when a father in Louisiana shot 8 children, including 7 of his own, killing them, and also shot his wife and another woman, injuring them.