Alan Smith, Billings, Montana gunman had many red flags according to relatives and friends of the victims before killing family of eight.
The Billings, Montana gunman who shot and killed 8 family members before torching his parents home is revealed to have had many red flags, including being ‘verbally abusive’ according to the best friend of the man’s sister who perished in the attack over the weekend.
Alan Smith, 44, had “no job” and “no money” when he stormed out of the family home in Billings, before returning weeks later during a Sunday family dinner and murdering eight people, including four children before setting the house ablaze and taking his own life, according to a close friend of his victim and sister, Megan Ireland-Ghekiere.
‘There were many red flags and many people spoke out,’
While authorities have yet to say what motivated the 44-year-old man to return to his parents’ home where the ‘unemployed’ man had been living for years, before his parents, Barbara and Dana Smith recently asking him to move out, previous reports cited friends and relatives speaking out about the many ‘red flags’ and being afraid to speak out.
One of those speaking out was Brad Ireland, whose former wife and two children were among the dead, who publicly identified Smith as the shooter.
‘There were many red flags and many people spoke out,’ Ireland told AP. ‘No one listened.’
Alan Smith was a ‘hermit’ who spent most of his days in his room on his computer, Ireland said.
‘No one knew what he did in there 24/7,’ he said.
Domestic violence and mass killings in the U.S
Also speaking out was Kelsey Granger, Washington state woman, close friend of Megan Ireland-Ghekiere who along with her two children, Landon Ghekiere, 15 and Charlotte Ghekiere, 12, died in Sunday night’s attack.
Kelsey Granger, who was maid of honor at both of Megan’s weddings, told the nypost how she had known Smith for years – while conceding she hadn’t known him to be physically violent.
‘I know he was verbally abusive towards Megan occasionally as well as her children. He hadn’t been very nice to her children when he left,’ Granger told the outlet.
‘But as far as I know from what she told me, he left of his own accord. Nobody kicked him out of the house,’ she added.
Granger described how Smith left the home around the ‘end of July.’
‘I know she talked to me about it about July 14 or so, and then I believe the following week he left and did not tell anyone where he was going,’ she said.
‘But he didn’t have a job. He had no income as far as I know. So we didn’t know where he was, but we were not concerned,’ Granger said. ‘I don’t believe her parents thought he was violent.’
The shootings were the 22nd mass killing in the U.S this year, according to AP. Fifteen of those have stemmed from domestic disputes, which is higher than the average of about 50% of U.S. mass killings.
The Montana shooting is the deadliest in the U.S. since April, when a Louisiana father fatally shot eight children, including seven of his own, and shot and wounded his wife and another woman.
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