Updated Oct. 22 at 1 p.m.: revised to include the identities of the victims.
IRVING — Police have identified the man and two women who were found dead in a home in Irving Tuesday in what police said was a double murder-suicide.
The victims were identified as 45-year-old Brandy Evett Olivares and 18-year-old Sicilian Italease Ire Williams, who both died of gunshot wounds. The third individual, 45-year-old James Benjamin Olivares, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
James and Brandy Olivares were married, and Williams was James Olivares’ step daughter, Irving police spokesman Robert Reeves said. The motive for the shooting is still unknown, police said.
Officers were dispatched at 11:18 a.m. Tuesday to the home in the 400 block of Renaissance Lane after receiving a call from a woman who requested a welfare check on her brother, police said. The woman who called said she believed there may have been a suicide, police said.
When officers arrived, they saw a man outside a two-story brick home decorated for Halloween with pumpkins and cobwebs. The man ran back into the house when he saw the officers, police said.
Officers knocked on the front door and heard a man inside yell at officers to call a negotiator, police said. He then fired at least one shot from a handgun, police said.
Officers then forced their way into the home using an explosive device on the door, police said. They found the family dead inside.
The case is being investigated as a domestic violence incident, police confirmed Tuesday.
Reeves said Tuesday that during the pandemic, tensions are likely to run high as people continue to stay at home. October is domestic violence awareness month, and Reeves encouraged anyone experiencing domestic violence at home to contact the Irving Family Advocacy Center.
“If you know someone who is being abused, to be that advocate may save their lives,” Reeves said.
Reeves said there was no prior history of calls to the home.
Residents said neighborhood is usually quiet. They said that made the gunshots and subsequent explosion Tuesday afternoon more jarring.
“It doesn’t hit you until it hits you right next door,” said Richard Alvarado, who lives across the street.
One neighbor said they occasionally saw the man and one of the two women working out in the garage. Another neighbor said the man usually walked around the neighborhood with his two dogs.
Joanne Ellis, 73, has lived down the block in an adjacent neighborhood for 53 years. Upon hearing the explosion, she said she immediately ran outside.
“People know each other and they help out with each other,” Ellis said. “It’s real neighborly.”