A father from Billings, Montana has described the moment he learned that eight members of his family, including his wife and two of his children, had been shot dead by a disgruntled relative before their home was set ablaze. Adam Ghekiere, an airport rescue firefighter, was working at an airshow when he heard the incident unfolding over emergency radio and was unable to reach his family by phone before arriving to find the property under an active shooter lockdown.

The gunman, named as 44-year-old Alan Smith, opened fire during Sunday dinner weeks after being asked to move out of the home, killing Smith's own parents along with Ghekiere's wife Megan, his children Landon, 15, and Charlotte, 12, his stepchildren Chloe, 7, and Owen, 13, and their 92-year-old wheelchair-bound great-grandmother, before setting the house on fire and taking his own life. Officials said the blaze took hold within three minutes of the shooting starting, with firefighters hampered by a lack of nearby hydrants, and the residence was ultimately destroyed; the two youngest children have since been remembered by loved ones through online tributes.