An Oklahoma woman killed her three young children, ages 11, 6 and 10 months, and then herself during a supervised visitation at her home after an hourslong standoff with police, authorities said.
An officer responded Thursday afternoon to a home in Verdigris, in metropolitan Tulsa, because fireworks were erupting outside, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in a news release.
The officer encountered Brandy McCaslin, 39, barricaded inside the home with a firearm. State investigators said they tried to negotiate with McCaslin for the next three hours.
"After no response, officers made entry into the home where they found McCaslin, along with her three children, dead inside," the bureau said. "It was determined that McCaslin shot all three kids and then turned the weapon on herself."
The State Bureau of Investigation and Verdigris police did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.
Police Chief Jack Shackelford told the Tulsa World that a woman went to the home to drop off one of the children to McCaslin for a supervised visitation when McCaslin allegedly pointed a gun at the woman and took the child.
McCaslin locked the woman and two other children in the garage, according to the newspaper. The woman used a firework to draw attention to the home. She and the two other children were able to escape with the help of officers, Shackelford told the World.
Billy Jacobson, the father of one of the children who were killed, alleged that McCaslin had been upset over their breakup. "Please keep us in your prayers," he captioned a Facebook post of the three children.