Brandy McCaslin, center, and her children – Noe, Bryce, and Billy (from left to right) – appear inset against an image of the house where they once lived in Verdigris, Okla. (Mike Simons /Tulsa World via AP; Screengrabs via KWTV)
Four members of an Oklahoma family are dead after an armed standoff ended in a triple murder-suicide this week, authorities say.
The scene unfolded late Thursday afternoon at a home in Verdigris, one of the fastest-growing areas in the Sooner State, and a town on historic U.S. Route 66 — now State Highway 66.
A police officer saw the pyrotechnic display of a Roman candle coming from or near the garage of a residence at the corner of East Dogwood Court and Cypress Street, Tulsa-based NBC affiliate KJRH and Oklahoma City-based CBS affiliate KWTV reported.
Those fireworks clued the responding officer into an ongoing hostage situation inside the house, the Verdigris Police Department reportedly said. The first officer called for backup. Inside the residence, a woman was being held at gunpoint, police said.
“Negotiations quickly began, as they worked to make contact with 39-year-old Brandy McCaslin,” the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation wrote in a press release on Friday afternoon. “A stand-off ensued for the next three hours. After no response, officers made entry into the home, where they found McCaslin, along with her three children, dead inside. The children included a ten-month-old, as well as a six and eleven-year-old. It was determined that McCaslin shot all three kids and then turned the weapon on herself.”
The children were identified as 10-month-old Billy, 6-year-old Bryce, and 11-year-old Noe.
“At no time when we were there for that three-hour period did we hear anything from inside the house – nothing – no response, no movement,” Verdigris Police Chief Jack Shackelford said told KWTV.
The police chief, however, knew the house well.
Shackelford told the TV station he and his officers had been to the McCaslin residence multiple times on various child welfare and domestic violence calls. So, the chief said he could draw “a diagram floorplan of the house,” used by state and tribal law enforcement agencies to gain access.
But by then, it was far too late.
What’s left of the shattered McCaslin home in Verdigris, Okla. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation)
Tactical teams began clearing the house room by room. And eventually, the grimmest of discoveries was made. A mother with a history of substance abuse and mental health issues murdered her children before turning the gun on herself.
“They went in, they finally made their way to the back of the house where the bedroom was and discovered the suspect and the victims,” Shackelford told KWTV. “We knew her from previous encounters that we had with that residence and some of the other issues we’d had there before. I knew her by a first name basis and who she was.”
First Presbyterian Claremore Josh Kerr knew McCaslin, too.
He told KWTV in a separate interview that the two had grown up in the church and camped together.
“We were just stunned,” Kerr told the TV station. “It was one of those things where you saw a friend from 20 years ago who has struggled over the last years, but don’t expect it to end in a scenario like this. Lots of tragedy, suicides in the family, drug use, all the brokenness we see in our communities all the time.”
The pastor said he and the community were experiencing the typical feelings after such a violent tragedy – like shock and anger – but he advised for just a bit more.
“There also needs to be empathy and sincere grief and some compassion,” Kerr said.
At the time of the incident, McCaslin was subject to a supervised visit with one of her children, who had been brought to the house by the unidentified woman who was taken hostage. When she arrived, McCaslin brandished a handgun, took her child away, took the woman’s phone, and locked her – along with her two children – in the garage.
That woman and her children escaped after police arrived, Shackelford told the Tulsa World.
A memorial has since been erected at the shattered home.
“They looked like normal kids,” neighbor Blake Forsman, who lives across the street, told KJRH. “They would get off the bus, run inside, ride and bike, just normal kids.”
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
