Scottsdale couple dead after suspected murder-suicide, police say

PHOENIX – A man suspected of fatally shooting his wife barricaded himself in their home Sunday before turning a weapon on himself, Scottsdale police said.

The couple’s 8-month-old infant was at the home during the incident, police said Monday. The child was unharmed and was in the care of family.

The hourslong standoff began around 5 p.m. when officers were called to a home near Loop 101 and Chaparral Road.

When officers arrived, they found a woman with gunshot wounds in front of the house, police said. She was identified Monday afternoon as 28-year-old Molly Elizabeth Lillard.

Police were able to reach her and she was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Around the same time the woman was rushed away for treatment, police said they learned her husband, 36-year-old Royce Dale Lillard III, was inside the home.

Officers tried to make contact with him but he didn’t respond.

A SWAT team eventually made its way inside around 10:45 p.m. and found the man dead from what police said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The investigation is ongoing, but police said all indications are that it was a murder-suicide.

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