Pictured: the Navarro County, Texas home where Larry Thompson allegedly shot his twin daughters and himself. (image via NBC Dallas-Fort Worth screenshot)
An armed Texas father allegedly barricaded himself in his home late last week and took his own life after shooting and killing his twin daughters.
Larry Thompson was identified as the suspect in the slayings after the girls’ mother reported hearing a gunshot shortly after leaving the residence where the shooting occurred, the Navarro County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a press release. Family members, including the girls’ mother April Sadler, identified the victims as Heaven Sadler and Nevaeh Sadler, both just 12 years old, they told NBC Dallas-Forth Worth.
Sheriff Elmer Tanner’s office initially put out an alert last Thursday afternoon about a “tactical operation” involving its SWAT team at a residence in the 18000 block of NW Country Road 3360, a rural area in Frost, Texas. In a later update, the sheriff’s office noted that the tactical operation had ended but that the situation was “fluid” and Texas Rangers had joined the investigation of the scene.
The NBCDFW report said that the victims’ mother had a dispute with Thompson prior to the killings and that he had threatened to commit violence against anyone who tried to take his kids away from him. The woman reportedly left home that day with children other than the twins. The deadly violence allegedly took place after the woman returned to the home later on.
The suspect opened fire just minutes after the girls’ mother left the residence the second time, according to the sheriff’s office. After hearing an apparent gunshot, the woman called authorities to the scene. The ensuing SWAT operation and hostage situation, which reportedly involved the use of a tactical robot to make sure the scene was cleared for entry by law enforcement, ended with the discovery of three bodies in the home.
April Sadler reportedly told NBCDFW that she loves and misses her babies and that she “worried every day” about their safety. The victims’ aunt Stephanie Stephens reportedly said the twins loved the water and going fishing.
A woman who identified herself as the victims’ grandmother said the two “beautiful girls” were “tragically murder[ed]” by their father, who was “killed instantly” when he turned the gun on himself, according to a GoFundMe campaign seeking to raise funds for the victims’ burials.
In a GoFundMe of her own, Stephanie Stephens called the killings a “horrific tragedy.”
“We were not prepared for this tragedy, by any means,” she said.