Following an hour-long standoff with the police in Verdigris on Thursday, Oklahoma investigators identified the woman believed to have killed her three children before turning the gun on herself, Fox News reported.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) said Brandy McCaslin, 39, shot and killed her children before killing herself.
The triple murder-suicide took place in the little village northeast of Tulsa. According to OSBI, police officers on patrol saw fireworks going off outside a house close to East Dogwood Court and Cypress Street at 4pm (local time), as per Fox News.
Fox News, is an American news and political commentary television channel and website based in New York City.
When the police arrived to conduct their investigation, they found a lady, barricaded inside the house, who was armed.
According to OSBI officials, the standoff started when the offices attempted to contact the woman.
The home was surrounded by many response agencies, including a SWAT squad from the Cherokee Nation, for the following three hours after the police requested backup.
Officers entered the house after there was no response and found McCaslin and her three children dead inside.
"It was determined that McCaslin shot all three kids and then turned the weapon on herself," OSBI said.
The youngsters were daughter Noe (11), son Bryce (6), and 10-month-old Billy Jacobson.
A request for comment from OSBI was not immediately complied with. In a current inquiry, state bureau agents are collaborating with the Verdigris Police Department.
Fox News quoted local news station KJRH-TV as reporting that neighbours set up a memorial for the children on a tree in front of the house.
Nearby, a local resident, Bill Salwaechter claimed to have watched the standoff and seen numerous police officers make an effort to convince McCaslin to give up.
"I think it was around 3 pm, and police officers were here in massive numbers," he told KJRH, adding, "Those are the guys I really feel sorry for, since they have to go through that."
Blake Forsman, whose family resides across the street, claimed that McCaslin would frequently be seen loading a truck or waiting for her kids at the bus stop.
"I did see the kids come in and off the bus a couple of times," Forsman told the outlet, according to Fox News.
He described the house as being in poor condition, with the garage windows shattered, and bikes and toys strewn about the overgrown lawn. Forsman said he had previously done repair work on their fence so their dogs wouldn't get to his.
"They looked like normal kids," he told KJRH, adding, "They would get off the bus, run inside, ride and bike, just normal kids."
The community is heartbroken.
"The pitiful part is those kids had nothing to do with it," Salwaechter said. "Now they're gone. Those kids were the future of America," Fox News reported.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
