After allegedly killing 5 family members, Alameda man called 911 and calmly blamed his dead wife, police say
Shane Killian, 54, allegedly called 911 and claimed his wife had killed the family and fired at him before turning the gun on herself.
ALAMEDA — The man accused of murdering his entire family and in-laws reportedly called 911 immediately after the quintuple homicide, not to confess, but to place the blame on his wife as she died on the floor of their home, authorities have now revealed.
Moments after the July 10 massacre, Shane Killian, 54, reportedly greeted the 911 dispatcher with the words, “my wife,” and explained that he needed help, authorities said.
“My wife, has shot all of us,” Killian allegedly told the dispatcher. “And shot my children.”
Killian stepped outside a few moments after hanging up the phone, where Alameda police were waiting for him. He was arrested and has been in custody ever since, first charged with four counts of murder, and now five since the death of his 1-year-old son, Wesley, last week.
The other four victims have been identified as his 6-year-old son William Killian, 36-year-old wife Brenda Natali Morales, 70-year-old father-in-law Miguel Angel Carcamo Ramirez and mother-in-law Marta Elena Morales Diaz. All five victims died from gunshot wounds. Killian’s wife was found lying on the floor of the home and holding the unregistered pistol Shane Killian allegedly used in the shooting, authorities said.
Police found four other guns in the home — two rifles and two pistols — as well as a machete, a BB gun and numerous boxes of ammunition throughout the house and the garage, authorities said. After his arrest, Killian reportedly willingly sat down with homicide detectives and repeated the claim that his wife was responsible for the carnage and that he’d ducked and avoided gunfire “by the grace of God” when she fired at him.
There was one problem with Killian’s story: it was contradicted by the dying words of Carcamo Ramirez, who staggered to a neighbor’s home and said that he’d just been shot by his son-in-law, police say. When detectives confronted Killian with this detail, he allegedly recounted a new version of events where Carcamo Ramirez was shot as Killian and Morales struggled over the firearm, authorities said.
Killian added that his wife turned the gun on herself at the end and died of suicide. He couldn’t explain why he was the only one inside the home found with gunshot residue on his hands, according to investigators.
Before the shooting, Killian claimed he’d returned home from work as a welding inspector for PG&E around noon and consumed a half-dozen beers, then rented a hotel room a short distance from his home on Kitty Hawk Road, intending to use the hotel’s pool because it was hot outside.
He claimed his wife “overreacted” to his drinking and that he expected the family to join him at the hotel, but that she refused. A short time later, he claimed she began to shoot family members as he lay on their bed in another part of the house.
Killian is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. His arraignment has been postponed until Aug. 30 and he has not yet entered a plea, court records show.