SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Scottsdale police said two people are dead after a man shot and killed his wife at a home late Sunday night and then ultimately took his own life.
Officers responded to the home near 86th Street and Chaparral Road around 5 p.m. on Sunday and found a woman at the front of the home with gunshot wounds. She was transported to a local hospital where she was declared dead, police said.
SPD is working a shooting/barricade situation in the area of 86th St and Highland. Incident contained to a single residence. Avoid area if possible pic.twitter.com/SXi0r83cqs
— ScottsdalePD (@ScottsdalePD) April 12, 2021
Around the same time, officers learned that the woman's husband, the alleged shooting suspect, went back inside the home and barricaded himself inside.
Officers tried to get in touch with the man for several hours without success, police said. Later, a SWAT team went inside the home and found the man dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, a spokesperson for the Scottsdale Police Department said.
On Monday afternoon, Scottsdale police identified the woman as 28-year-old Molly Elizabeth Lillard. Her husband was identified as 36-year-old Royce Dale Lillard III.
"At this point in the investigation, all indications are that this was a murder-suicide," the spokesperson said.
Police also confirmed that the couple's eight-month-old child was at the home at the time of the shooting. The child was not injured and is currently in the care of the family.
No other details were released. The investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
