A quiet Connecticut neighborhood was shattered by horror after police say a man killed his girlfriend and her two young daughters before taking his own life during a standoff with officers.
Authorities say 27-year-old Patrick King fatally shot his girlfriend, 31-year-old Felisha Matthews, along with her daughters, 4-year-old Ava King and 12-year-old Molina Matthews, inside their Plainville home on Friday, March 27.
The terrifying chain of events began around 3:53 p.m., when police got a 911 call from a woman who said her brother claimed he had shot and killed his girlfriend and 4-year-old daughter and was planning to kill himself.
Officers rushed to the home, surrounded the area, and tried to make contact with King. When those efforts failed, a SWAT team was called in. A negotiator was eventually able to reach King by phone, but police said attempts to get him to surrender peacefully went nowhere.
At that point, authorities decided to deploy pepper gas inside the house in an effort to force him out.
Instead, police said King shot himself in the head.
Officers tried to save him, and he was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Inside the home, police found the bodies of Felisha and the two girls, all suffering from gunshot wounds.
Investigators said Ava was King’s daughter with Felisha, while Molina was Felisha’s older daughter from a previous relationship.
Police said the family had only recently moved into the home in January and that officers had never previously been called to the residence. The gun used in the killings appears to have been legally registered to King, and authorities said he also had a permit to carry. Several other weapons were reportedly found inside the home as well.
So far, investigators say they still do not know what pushed King to carry out the killings.
Officials called it a dark day for both Plainville and the state of Connecticut, with local leaders admitting the sheer brutality of the case is hard to understand.
The tragedy has left even more people shaken because, on the surface, the couple appeared to have built a life together. Social media posts showed the pair had been together for more than seven years, with both sharing loving tributes to each other online.
In one anniversary post shared last year, Felisha wrote about the life they had built together through love, chaos, growth, and second chances. King had also referred to her as his soulmate in his own posts.
Now, those messages are taking on a haunting new meaning as a community tries to process the unthinkable loss of a mother and her two daughters.