Police identify man who shot 3 family members in Broken Arrow murder-suicide

UPDATE (7/22/24) — The Broken Arrow Police Department said 26-year-old Jacob Haas shot three family members, then shot himself inside a house on Friday.

Preliminary autopsy results show Haas shot and killed his 21-year-old brother, 76-year-old grandfather and 55-year-old aunt.

Police are not releasing the names of the victims out of respect for their families.

Ethan Hutchins with Broken Arrow Police said the 911 call came from the aunt just before she died.

"Unfortunately with this kind of situation, our officers respond to these too often where there are family members in housing that something is causing an issue to escalate to ultimately end up into a murder-suicide like we have here," he said.

Police said the home does not have domestic violence history prior to this incident.

FOX23 asked Hutchins about recent murder-suicides in Broken Arrow that we've reported on to see if there was a common denominator.

"It's hard to paint all these murder-suicides with a broad brush and state how they all happened and what led to all them, because they're all separate in their own way," he said.

FOX23 has now reported on five murder-suicides, or attempted murder-suicides in just the last couple of years.

In October of 2022, a family of eight was found dead in a murder-suicide , taking the lives of six children. Police said they were shot before the home was set on fire.

In January of 2023, a man killed his wife and then himself. Police found him dead after a standoff.

In May of 2023, police said a man shot and killed his wife and teenage son . He then shot himself, but survived and suffered a traumatic brain injury. FOX23 has recently reported he was found incompetent and is expected back in court next month.

In February of 2024, a teen brother killed his sister and then himself .

All of those cases involved domestic or family violence.

"This is a reminder to our community that there is help out there, and hopefully you seek it out," Hutchins said. "If you do, then we can prevent these kinds of situations from happening in the future."

If you or someone you know are involved in a domestic violence situation, call the nationwide hotline at 800-799-7233.

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — An investigation is underway in Broken Arrow after police found four people dead inside a house on Friday morning.

FOX23 brought you breaking news coverage from the scene near Pine and Toledo.

Police said the 911 call was made from inside the home just before 11 a.m.

FOX23’s David Bodden was getting breakfast, saw the large response to the home and followed them.

Driving through a Broken Arrow neighborhood on Friday morning near 91st and Aspen looked more like a war zone.

"We really don't know what's going on," said one person in the neighborhood.

There were firetrucks, an ambulance and a line of Broken Arrow Police cars.

"They blocked the whole street and the cop cars keep coming and coming and coming," said another person near the scene.

The reason for the overwhelming response was a troubling 911 call.

"I can tell you when dispatch was taking the phone call from the person inside the residence they did hear gunshots," said Ethan Hutchins with Broken Arrow Police.

FOX23’s David Bodden watched officers surround the house and at one point he took cover behind a tree as they inched closer to the home. An officer used his weapon to break windows in the front of the residence.

There was no response and later investigators found four people dead inside the home in a suspected murder-suicide.

"It's still too early in the investigation to determine the ages or names or relationships of any of the individuals inside the residence," Hutchins said.

FOX23 heard from people who live in that neighborhood and got their reaction to the horrible news.

"When we saw the news your heart, it just went into your stomach," Margie Akehurst said.

Akehurst has lived in the neighborhood for 22 years and was shocked to find out what happened on Friday morning.

"It is heartbreaking, it really is. It is heartbreaking, my prayers go out to their families, That is just horrible," Akehurst said.

Brittney Palmero has lived in the neighborhood for only a few months and was working from home when she heard the rush of cop cars and sirens go by.

"We spoke to those people like twice and did not feel like anything was wrong. It is just one of those feelings you just never know, you know," Palmero said.

Residents like Randal Artze described the neighborhood as consistently quiet.

"We don't ever hear gunshots or anything, you know, nothing. It is a very quiet neighborhood very peaceful," said Artze. "You don't hear a lot of things so afterward we heard what happened out there, it was very shocking and very unexpected."

Everyone was collectively saddened by the tragedy.

As they process what took place just houses away, they said they are still trying to make sense of it all.

"You can't hardly really fathom what would cause them to do something like that,” Akehurst said.

Again, Broken Arrow Police said they are investigating this as a murder-suicide, which would make this tragic scene one of five in Broken Arrow alone within the last 2 years. It would also mean that FOX23 has now reported on 18 people who have died in murder-suicides or attempted murder-suicides in Broken Arrow in less than two years.

In October 2022 , a family of eight was found dead in a murder-suicide, taking the lives of six children. Police said they were shot before the home was set on fire.

In January 2023 , a man killed his wife and then himself. Police found him dead after a standoff.

In May 2023 , a man shot and killed his wife and his teenage son. He then shot himself but survived and suffered a traumatic brain injury.

Most recently , in February 2024 , a teen brother killed his sister and then himself.

All of those cases involved domestic or family violence.

So far, in Friday's case, police have not released how the people involved knew each other.

FOX23 will stay in touch with Broken Arrow Police and bring you any new information as we get it on air and online.

FOX23 also wants to remind you that help is available. If you are having suicidal thoughts and need help, you can call 988 at any time.