Todd Michael Donovan, Lenexa, Kansas man shoots dead wife and son during hours long stand-off at his home along with neighbor’s dog. Victims id as Sheila M. Donovan, 52, & Tyler K. Donovan. No known motive.
A Kansas man has been arrested after an hours long standoff in Lenexa, Friday night, which led to responding officers finding two individuals dead along with a neighbor’s dog shot dead.
Todd Michael Donovan, 53, was charged with first degree murder in the deaths of the two victims, since identified as the suspect’s relatives, according to Lenexa police.
Identified as the victims were Sheila M. Donovan, 52, & Tyler K. Donovan, 22.
Domestic related
While police declined to identify the nature of the suspect and victim’s relationship, FOX4 indicated the suspect shooting his wife and son dead.
The alleged murders happened at his home in the 7900 block of Hallet Street, a few blocks west of 79th Street and Pflumm Road, the Lenexa Police Dept said in a Facebook release.
Police were originally called out to the home around 8:30 on Friday night. When police were a few blocks away, they heard shots fired and stopped. Police then looked up the phone number of the homeowner and called. The homeowner, Donovan, answered. Shortly after, officers realized they might be talking to the shooter according to KCTV5.
‘In the course of that conversation, basically officers confront him about that and ask him, ‘Hey, we’d like you to come out and talk to us, but we need you to do so in a safe manner so that you aren’t harmed and none of our officers are harmed,’ said Danny Chavez, the Public Information Officer for Lenexa PD. ‘There were, at times, where it seemed like he would cooperate and come out. Obviously, he chose not to do that.’
The Lenexa Tactical Team and crisis negotiators were called in after Donovan refused officers’ requests to exit peacefully.
No known motive
At some point, Donovan stopped responding to the phone call with police. Just before 2 a.m., the tactical team went inside the home and arrested him. While inside, police found two of Donovan’s family members shot to death.
Responding to the crime scene, Chavez said, ‘I can tell you from working in this city for over 20 years that it’s generally a quiet part of town that we don’t have many problems at all. It’s shocking for us and the residents who were affected [Friday night].’
Currently, police do not believe the gunshots they heard were the ones that killed the victims. They are also trying to figure out why the neighbor’s dog was shot and killed.
‘We don’t, at this time, know a motive yet,’ said Chavez. ‘Any time there is a loss of life, regardless of the circumstances, it’s very tragic.’
Neighbors described the family as friendly while stressing the neighborhood is normally very quiet and safe.
Offered neighbor, Chris Zien, ‘We’d see them sitting out on the porch, and we’d say hi to them when taking the dogs out for a walk. But other than that I didn’t know much about them.’
Chavez said the suspect is alive and recovering at a hospital.
The case remains under investigation by Lenexa detectives and members of the Johnson County Crime Lab. Anyone with information that could assist police is asked to call the Crimestoppers TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.
