Ohio Dad Fatally Shoots His Young Daughters Before Killing Himself

A 32-year-old man in Ohio has fatally shot his two children aged 6 and 9 before killing himself, police said.

Aaron D. Williams fatally shot his two daughters, 6-year-old Alyse Williams and 9-year-old Ava Williams, at their Columbus home in an apparent murder-suicide.

Columbus police discovered the girls critically wounded with gunshots when they responded to a report of a domestic dispute shortly before 10:30 a.m. on Friday, reported People.

The police heard multiple gunshots as they arrived at the scene. The girls were rushed to the hospital but were pronounced dead later at the hospital. The suspect, who had self-inflicted gunshot wounds, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Columbus police Chief Tom Quinlan expressed his condolences to the grieving mother and the officers who responded to the scene in an official statement. "Behind every badge is a human — a mother, father, sister or brother," Quinlan said. "And while we have a job to do — a job we signed up for — we hurt too. We grieve with these families. Our hearts break for their devastated mother, and all who loved them."

Erica Osborn, a family friend, described the victims as "bright and full of energy." "The first thing they tell you is that they love you. I just cannot believe they're gone," local news outlet The Columbus Dispatch quotes Osborn as saying.

The court records obtained by the news outlet indicated that the suspect had previous domestic violence charges against him. Williams was charged with intent to harm and assault on Sept. 7, 2018, and pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct in October 2018. Under the plea agreement, he was given a suspended sentence of three days.

Osborn said the news came as a shock to her. "I just can't imagine. I don't know how he did it. I don't know how he was able to do this to them," she said.

The police have not revealed the motive behind the murder-suicide.

"As a father of a 10-year-old girl, my heart breaks at the news of the deaths of two young girls at the hand of their father," Mayor Andrew Ginther of Columbus, Ohio, said in a statement as per local news outlet 10WBNS.