A 12-year-old girl is being remembered for one final act of courage after authorities say her uncle killed eight relatives during a family gathering outside Billings, Montana. According to The Associated Press, investigators were still combing through the burned remains of the White Star Circle home Wednesday, August 26, as they tried to determine exactly what led 44-year-old Alan Michael Smith to kill members of four generations of his family. Authorities say Smith died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound shortly after officers arrived.
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The victims were Dana Smith, 73, Barbara Smith, 72, Evelyn Smith, 92, Megan Ireland Ghekiere, 39, Owen Ireland, 13, Chloe Ireland, 7, Landon Ghekiere, 15, and Charlotte Ghekiere, 12, according to Montana Free Press. Interim Yellowstone County Sheriff Kent O’Donnell described Evelyn as the “family matriarch” and called the investigation “very complex.”Charlotte’s actions during the Montana family shooting have become a central part of how relatives want her remembered. According to NBC News, family friend Jennifer Mercer said, “The one thing we do know is that Charlotte was the hero,” adding, “Charlotte called 911, and she tried to save her family.”
Mercer offered a similar message in a statement to NBC News: “Charlotte was the hero that dialed 911,” she said. “She tried to save her family. She lived by her favorite quote, ‘I love you more.’ ”
O’Donnell said Smith arrived near the home around 5:49 p.m. Sunday. According to NBC News, neighbors believed they heard what sounded like fireworks roughly 11 minutes later. At 6:02 p.m., dispatchers received a call from a “female” voice inside the home. Authorities arrived within minutes.
“This is an ongoing criminal investigation with eight victims, making this very complex,” O’Donnell said, according to NBC News.
When law enforcement reached the property, officers “confronted the suspect in the front yard, where he retreated into the house,” O’Donnell said. He said more “gunshots were heard within the household” before Smith moved toward the rear of the property.
The sheriff said that at approximately 6:13 p.m., a deputy “heard a final shot, which was broken away from the rest of the shots.” Officers later “made entrance into the backyard” and found a wounded man.
“At this time, it wasn’t known that he was actually the suspect of all this,” O’Donnell said. “He was just a person down, and law enforcement did what they’re trained to do. They got him out of the hot zone and provided what first aid they could. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.”
The latest reporting from The Associated Press says investigators believe multiple fires were set inside the home. Weapons were also recovered from the property, although authorities had not publicly identified what firearm or firearms were used. Autopsies were still being conducted Wednesday, and officials had not announced a definitive motive.
Fire crews faced another serious obstacle because the property sits outside Billings city limits in an area where hydrants were not required. “They had to haul in truckloads of water, set up a temporary tank and pump out of that tank,” O’Donnell told NBC News. “So the fire suppression portion of this was very, very difficult.” Firefighters continued working until around 1 a.m. Monday.
The Smith family had moved to Montana from the Seattle area, according to NBC News and the Associated Press. Megan moved with Owen and Chloe after her divorce from Brad Ireland about six years ago. She later married Adam Ghekiere, whose children, Landon and Charlotte, became part of the blended family. Adam was working when the attack happened.
“We are so grateful for the prayers, the love, the support that we’re getting from the nation,” Ghekiere told NBC News.
Neighbor Donna Heisler remembered Dana and Barbara Smith as private people. “They were nice,” she told NBC News. “I talked to Barbara the wife at a couple of garage sales.”
“They kind of kept to themselves. Really weren’t a very outgoing couple,” Heisler continued. “They weren’t the socialites on the block so you’d see them once in a while, but they weren’t overly outgoing.”
“And coming from a bigger city, maybe more the way they preferred to have it.”
Brad Ireland told NBC News that Alan Smith had lived with his parents for years before they asked him to leave several weeks before the killings. Ireland described Smith as a “hermit” and said “no one knew what he did in there 24/7.”
Authorities have not said being asked to leave was the motive. O’Donnell told the Associated Press investigators have “some idea” about what may have prompted the attack, but he said some information belongs to the surviving family. Officials also said Smith had no known prior police contact at the residence.
“We had not been called to this residence before, and we had not had any prior contact with the suspect,” O’Donnell told NBC News.
As investigators search for answers, attention in Billings has increasingly turned toward the people who died. According to Montana Free Press, the Youth Peace & Justice Foundation plans to posthumously give Charlotte its National Heroism Award for making the emergency call.
A public candlelight vigil is also scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday at Veterans Park, according to KTVQ, where family members plan to honor all eight victims.
For Charlotte’s father, however, her memory remains tied to the words she repeated whenever he told her he loved her.
“I keep hearing her — every time I would say ‘I love you,’ she would say ‘I love you more,’ ” Ghekiere told NBC News.
