Winfield, Kansas murder-suicide: Ronald Williams Sr. shoots and kills wife and four kids then self. Shooter had long history of crime and was registered sex offender and had been acting erratically days prior.
A Kansas man is alleged to have shot and killed his wife and their four children, three girls and one boy between the ages of 3 and 9, before turning the murder weapon on himself, Tuesday morning according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigations.
Ronald Williams Sr., 53 of Winfield called authorities Tuesday morning just before 9 a.m, confessing to killing his family members and that he was preparing to take his own life.
Upon arriving at the family address, officers with Winfield Police breached the front door and found the suspect dead inside alongside five other family members with gunshot wounds: 44-year-old Kelly George, Carol A Williams, 9, Ronald H Williams, 7, Sarah K Williams, 5, and three-year-old Kelly M Magee-Williams.
Ronald had been exhibiting ‘erratic behavior’ for weeks, including confronting and yelling at people. Authorities admitted officers never imagined it would culminate in the deaths of his entire family, KAKE reported.
Williams, who also had aliases of Freddie Williams, Laron Williams and Jerome Williams, was convicted in September 1998 of attempted indecent liberties with a child for an incident involving a 15-year-old girl, KCTV5 reported.
Authorities also noted the suspect was a ‘registered sex offender’ who often yelled at kids. Williams is reported to have had a long criminal history.
Kansas court records revealed Williams faced felony charges for drugs, battery, assault on a law enforcement officer, burglary, attempted rape, kidnapping and more for incidents ranging from 1995 to 2024. He faced felony charges in Wyandotte, Johnson, and Franklin counties throughout that time.
The murder-suicide comes after police saying they had previously been called to reports of gunfire in the vicinity of the home.
The motive behind the slaying remains a mystery as the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and Winfield Police Department (WPD) continue their investigation.
Authorities revealed new details of the murder-suicide during a press conference Tuesday evening, including Ronald’s 911 call in which he confessed to killing his entire family.
Winfield Police Chief Robbie DeLong said officers were dispatched to the home in the 400 block of West Ninth Street at around 8.50am. Already in the area for another incident, they arrived just after the call came in.
‘Pretty much immediately, the first officer on scene was approaching the house when they heard a single gunshot,’ DeLong said. ‘At that point, they retreated.’
The chief said officers quickly established a perimeter around the home and treated the unfolding incident as a ‘barricade situation.’
Just before 11am, after exhausting all other options and bringing in additional backup, officers decided to force their way through the front door, which DeLong said they ‘breached immediately.’
Inside, authorities discovered the bodies of all six relatives, including the couple’s four young children.
Authorities said that only the six family members lived in the home, and that there is no ongoing threat to the public.
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