Editor's Notebook: Four Killed in Apparent Murder-Suicide in Brooklyn Park

UPDATED (7:25 p.m. Aug. 7): Police relased the identities of the people involved in the Sunday morning shooting in Brooklyn Park.

According to a police press release, Kelly Brian Thompson, 33, shot and killed his wife, Nina Thompson, 34, and her children Taishawn and Treshawn Pugh, both 15. Kelly Thompson was not the biological father of Taishawn and Treshawn, police said.

Original article (2:15 p.m. Aug. 7): Two adults and two children were killed Sunday morning in what police are calling a murder-suicide in the 600 block of Wood Street in Brooklyn Park.

A woman who said she was concerned about the wellbeing of her adult son and other residents inside the home called police to the scene. When officers arrived and met with the woman, they heard a single gunshot come from inside the home, said Anne Arundel County Police Department spokesman Lt. J.D. Batten.

Batten said officers immediately entered the home to prevent further injuries if someone was actively shooting inside.

“Unfortunately, what they found were four persons deceased inside the residence. At this time there is no indication that it was a random act,” Batten said.

“All indications at this point, it appears to be, from the evidence we’ve gathered so far, a murder-suicide where the adult male killed the other members of the family and then killed himself as the officers were outside the home.”

Batten said they found a teenage girl, a teenage boy, an adult woman and the adult male, both thought to be in their mid-30s. The spokesman also said police believe all were residents on the home on Wood Street.

Neighbors nearby the home said they only heard a single gunshot, which raised the question as to how the alleged shooter killed all the residents with a single shot.

Batten said it appeared that the teenagers and woman were killed by gunshots, even though police and neighbors only heard a single gunshot.

Residents throughout Wood Street gathered on their front porches as police walked back and forth from their cars to the crime scene inside the home.

The news of a possible murder-suicide shook nearby neighbors, especially those who knew the man suspected of killing his family members.

“Last night he came over, everything seemed fine,” said Kevin Fullerton, 44, who said he was good friends with the alleged shooter.

“He’d give you the shirt off his back. They were very good people,” said Fullerton, referencing the man and his family.

Detectives are looking into possible domestic violence incidents involving the family and Batten said such information would only come out as the investigation continues.

Other neighbors said incidents like the one that happened Sunday morning are extremely rare, according to their knowledge.

“It’s just quiet—rowdy kids every now and then, but that’s it,” said Craig Parks, another Wood Street resident. “I’d wave to [the alleged shooter] and everything, but never spoke to him.”