Brother: Suspect in Ohio shooting that killed 3 was friend
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The suspect in a shooting that killed three members of an Ohio family including a 7-year-old boy was a once friendly neighbor, the brother of one of the victims said Tuesday.
Suspect Barry Kirk lived across the street from John Anderson II on Columbus' west side and had been in the house and shared meals, said Anderson's brother, Jason Lozier.
The two fell apart over some kind of argument in the past couple of months, he said.
"My brother never really took it seriously. It was nothing ever serious," said a red-eyed Lozier, 33, sitting on a stoop a few houses down from his brother's Tuesday morning.
Kirk, 50, was shot by three officers Monday evening after a short chase outside the Andersons' house and died a few hours later.
Killed were Anderson, 31; his wife, Christina Anderson, 30; and their son Landon Anderson, 7. The couple's 12-year-old daughter was taken to Columbus Children's Hospital in critical condition. The hospital said the family asked that further information not be released.
All the victims suffered multiple gunshot wounds, said Columbus police Sgt. Rich Weiner. Columbus fire personnel pronounced the couple and the boy dead at the scene.
Lozier said his brother was shot as he walked into the back of his house.
In 911 calls, both the daughter and Christina Anderson are heard begging a dispatcher for help.
"Somebody's in my house; they're trying to hurt me and my mom and my brother. Please help," a girl's voice says.
A man who was a family friend who lived in the house called it a "home invasion" in a second call. Gunshots can be heard in both calls.
John Anderson worked for a stucco company with his brother and had also recently started his own pavement sealing business. Christina Anderson cared for the children and was taking GED classes in hopes of becoming an X-Ray technician, Lozier said.
"It was a good, solid family," Lozier said. "He loved his kids, he loved his job, he loved his wife."
Kirk served eight months in prison in the 1980s on a vandalism charge out of Cuyahoga County, state records show. He also was cited numerous times for traffic violations, pleaded guilty in 2009 to a case of telephone harassment, and had 2004 charges of assault and domestic violence dismissed, records show.
Messages left for his family members were not returned Tuesday.