VERDIGRIS, Okla. — Hearts are heavy across the Rogers County Community as OSBI investigates a triple murder-suicide involving 39-year-old Brandy McCaslin and her three kids, Noe, Brice, and Billy.
The crime scene tape was still up on Friday afternoon at the house near Cypress Street and Dogwood Court. Neighbors gathered and made a memorial on a tree in front of the house for the children.
Neighbors, like Bill Salwaechter can't wrap their heads around it. They remember Noe, Brice, and Bubba, as written on the tree memorial with colorful flowers and pom poms. Salwaechter lives nearby and said he watched multiple officers try to get McCaslin outside to surrender. OSBI says she was armed with a weapon and barricaded inside.
READ MORE: OSBI identifies woman, children found dead in Verdigris home
"I think it was around 3 p.m., and police officers were here in massive numbers," he told 2 News. "Those are the guys I really feel sorry for since they have to go through that."
Getting no response, OSBI said they went inside and found McCaslin and her three children dead from gunshot wounds.
Blake Forsman's family lives across the street and says he'd often see McCaslin waiting for her children at the bus stop or loading up a truck.
"I did see the kids come in and off the bus a couple of times," Forsman said.
The exterior of the house wasn't kept up. The garage windows are shattered, and bikes and toys are lying around in tall grass. Forsman said he fixed their fence in the past so their dogs wouldn't get to his.
"They looked like normal kids," Forsman said. "They would get off the bus, run inside, ride and bike, just normal kids."
The event left neighbors and the community speechless.
"The pitiful part is those kids had nothing to do with it," Salwaechter said. "Now they're gone. Those kids were the future of America."
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