BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — News that the Broken Arrow Police and Fire Departments are now investigating the deaths of a family of eight as a murder-suicide sent shockwaves through the neighborhood Friday morning.
FOX23 spoke with the family’s landlord, Kris Welch, about the investigation. Welch said the tenants, Brian Nelson and his wife, Brittney, had been renting the home for the last eight years.
“I feel like I’m going to throw up, honestly,” Welch said.
She told FOX23 the news was hitting her hard. Welch also recalled an incident that involved the Nelson family.
“They thought there was a gas leak, so they had the gas shut off,” Welch recalled. “Which was very odd to me because it’s cold, and they have children. It’s like they just wanted to be left alone. They didn’t want me to do anything about it which I thought was really weird too. And then, two days later, this.”
Friday, the basketball hoop outside the family’s home was wrapped in yellow crime scene tape.
“They would come outside and play [basketball] with their dad,” said Traci Treseler, a young mother and neighbor of the Nelsons. “But I didn’t even know six kids lived there. I only thought three kids lived there because they kept to themselves so much.”
Treseler, who has lived in the neighborhood for almost two years, is struggling to come to terms with the deaths being investigated as a murder-suicide.
According to the Broken Arrow Police Department, the two adults are being investigated as the primary suspects. During a press conference Friday morning, Chief Brandon Berryhill said investigators recovered firearms from inside the home. They would not elaborate on what may have caused the deaths of the eight individuals.
Broken Arrow Fire officials said they responded to a 911 call on a house fire shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday.
“Immediately we found two adults in the front of the house with significant injuries and they were obviously deceased,” said Fire Chief Jeremy Moore.
Moore continued, “Those injuries did appear to our fire crews … to be criminal in nature. And we immediately called for the police department to come and intervene on the fire scene.”
He also said the children were found together in the back bedroom where the majority of the fire was contained.
“At this time we do not believe that any of the victims died from the fire,” Moore said.
Moore did note that the final determination for the cause of death will be made by the Medical Examiner.
While investigators continued to work on scene at the house on Friday, Treseler, who once invited the Nelson kids to attend her daughter’s birthday party, was left with unanswered questions.
“I just don’t understand how somebody could do that to their children,” she said.
Treseler said the kids did not attend her daughter’s party. She also said, as a mother of a four-year-old and a toddler, she was devastated to learn about the children’s deaths.
Early Friday evening, a mother of nine stopped by the end of the street while the crime scene was still active. She dropped off a peace plant and told FOX23 she felt she had to do something after learning about the deaths.
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Police said the investigation will be ongoing for some time. Investigators have coordinated their efforts with the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) by having evidence sent to their labs for further investigation.
Berryhill told reporters this is an extremely difficult time for the city and its departments. He said he prays healing will follow this tragedy. He added that as they move forward in this investigation, it will continue to be a difficult time.
Moore said they’ve been very active is setting up peer support teams for first responders. They have also retained outside counseling services to offer to Broken Arrow firefighters in the wake of the deaths.
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