Alan Smith and the 2026 Billings Family Massacre
Overview
On the evening of Sunday, August 23, 2026, a quiet family dinner in a home just west of Billings, Montana, turned into the site of the state's deadliest mass shooting. Alan Michael Smith, 44, shot and killed eight members of his own family, spanning four generations, before setting the house ablaze and taking his own life. The victims, ranging in age from seven to 92, had gathered for their weekly meal when Smith, who had recently been asked to move out of his parents' home, returned and unleashed a horrific attack that devastated a blended family and shocked the community.
The Attack
The Smith family had gathered for their regular Sunday dinner at the home of Dana and Barbara Smith, located at 315 White Star Circle. The family, with roots in the Seattle area, had made a life in Montana, and these dinners were a cherished tradition. Alan Smith, the 44-year-old son of Dana and Barb, had been living with his parents for years but was asked to move out a few weeks prior to the shooting.
On August 23, he arrived at the home unexpectedly around 5:49 p.m. At 6:01 p.m., the Yellowstone County 911 dispatch received a call from inside the house. It was made by 12-year-old Charlotte Ghekiere, who reported a family disturbance. Within minutes, Smith began shooting his relatives.
The first police officer arrived on the scene at 6:12 p.m. to find the house on fire and smoke pouring from the structure. The officer saw Alan Smith in the front yard, but Smith retreated back inside the burning home. More gunshots were heard from within. Smith then ran into the backyard, where he was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was taken into custody and transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
As the shooting unfolded, Smith set multiple fires inside the 4,000-square-foot home. The blaze quickly grew into an inferno, completely engulfing the house. Firefighters faced significant challenges; the home was in a subdivision outside city limits that was not required to have fire hydrants. Responders had to haul in truckloads of water and set up temporary tanks, which delayed their efforts. The active shooter situation also meant firefighters had to wait until police secured the scene before they could begin tackling the flames, which they battled until about 1 a.m. Monday. The fire was so destructive that it burned the house down to its foundation, complicating the subsequent investigation.
The Victims
The attack claimed the lives of eight family members, a loss that spanned four generations of the blended family.
- Evelyn Smith, 92 — The family matriarch and Alan's grandmother. She lived in a nearby retirement community and was visiting her son's family for the weekly dinner.
- Dana Smith, 73 — Alan's father and the owner of the home. He and his wife had followed their daughter to Montana from the Seattle area.
- Barbara Smith, 72 — Alan's mother. She and her husband had asked Alan to move out of their home just weeks before the massacre.
- Megan Ireland-Ghekiere, 39 — Alan's younger sister. She had moved to Montana from Seattle six years prior after a divorce and had since remarried.
- Landon Ghekiere, 15 — Megan's stepson. A sophomore at Senior High School, he was looking forward to getting his driver's license and was described as a patient, protective, and loving older brother.
- Owen Ireland, 13 — Megan's son from her first marriage.
- Charlotte Ghekiere, 12 — Megan's stepdaughter. Remembered as funny, precocious, and adorable, she loved looking for bugs under rocks. Charlotte was hailed as a hero for making the 911 call from inside the house in an attempt to save her family.
- Chloe Ireland, 7 — Megan's daughter from her first marriage and the youngest victim of the tragedy.
Megan's husband and the father of Landon and Charlotte, Adam Ghekiere, was working at the Billings airport during the attack. He heard about an active shooter over a dispatch radio, and after failing to reach anyone in his family by phone, he raced to the Smith home. He arrived to find it engulfed in flames, learning hours later that his wife and all four children had been killed.
The Perpetrator
Alan Michael Smith, 44, was identified by law enforcement as the shooter. Family members described him as a "hermit" who spent most of his time in his room on his computer. He had attended Eastern Washington University but had struggled to find or hold a job. For years, he lived with his parents, Dana and Barb Smith, until they asked him to move out a couple of weeks before the shooting.
According to his former brother-in-law, Brad Ireland, there were "many red flags" concerning Alan's behavior over the years. While he had no known criminal record in Montana or Washington and no history of physical violence, he could be verbally abusive. The specific catalyst for the rampage appears to have been the domestic dispute over his living situation. After being forced to leave, he returned to the family home during their Sunday gathering and committed the familicide.
Investigation and Aftermath
The investigation was a complex, multi-agency effort led by the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Billings Police Department and state and federal agencies. The complete destruction of the home by fire made the process of recovering the victims and gathering evidence extremely difficult. It took investigators days to sift through the rubble and account for everyone who was inside.
Sheriff Kent O’Donnell publicly dispelled rumors circulating on social media, confirming that the incident was a domestic dispute carried out by a family member, not a random act of violence or related to drugs. He emphasized the tragedy's impact on the community, noting that a makeshift memorial of teddy bears, photos, and a notebook for messages quickly appeared near the site of the burned-down home. One of the first messages was from a classmate of one of the children, mourning that they wouldn't see their friend in school that year.
The community rallied to support the surviving family members. Online fundraisers quickly collected more than $100,000 to help cover funeral costs and other expenses for Adam Ghekiere and Erica Schneider, the mother of Landon and Charlotte.
For her bravery, 12-year-old Charlotte Ghekiere was posthumously honored with a National Heroism Award by the Youth Peace & Justice Foundation, a nonprofit formed after the Uvalde school shooting. Her father, Adam, remembered her telling him "I love you more" every time he would say "I love you." He called his brother-in-law a "monster," saying the word wasn't even enough to describe the horror of his actions. The shooting was the 22nd mass killing in the United States in 2026 and a stark reminder of the devastating potential of domestic violence.
