Matthew Adair was with friends and relatives in Ortonville about half an hour before attacking an Independence Township family, 2 a.m., Sept. 3.
Adair, 26, attacked a 19-year-old resident in her bedroom, then shot her parents when they ran in to help, killing her mother before shooting and killing himself.
Investigators spoke to Adair’s cousin, who said Adair was at his house off Ortonville Road from about 12:30 p.m., Sept. 2, until about 1:30 a.m.
He seemed a little down about a girl he wanted to date, apparently referring to the 19-year-old, but said nothing about murder or suicide, according to police reports.
A friend also told police Adair had a few beers and seemed upset.
When he was leaving, Adair told his cousin he was going home to sleep. Living with friends in Brandon Township off Baldwin Road, he kept his .22 rifle in the family’s gun safe, which also held a .410 gauge, two-shot pistol.
Adair took the pistol and used it in the murder and suicide. After the incident, his friend filed a stolen gun report, saying he didn’t give permission to Adair to take it.
The 19-year-old, who knew Adair from work at the Salvation Army store in Oxford, was out with friends and returned home about 2 a.m. Her parents had left the door unlocked for her.
Adair attacked her immediately when she got to her bedroom, throwing her on her bed and choking her. She yelled for her parents, who came running.
Adair shot her mother, hitting her in the chest and throat. The teenager ran into the hallway past her father, who ducked as Adair fired his second round but was hit in the shoulder.
As Adair reloaded, the father got up and ran for the basement where he kept his gun locker. His daughter ran into her parents? bedroom, hid behind a dresser, and called 911.
As she spoke to the 911 dispatcher, Adair could be heard yelling for her, and the dispatcher told her to get out of the house. As she ran to the front door, she passed her father who was returning with his shotgun. Adair turned his gun on himself and shot himself in the chest, crying out an expletive as he died.
More than 20 deputies and medical personnel responded to the scene. The wounded father came out of the house and was ordered on his stomach as his daughter screamed out who he was.
He told medical personnel to tend to his wife first. They were both taken to POH, where she was pronounced dead at 4:18 a.m.
Adair was pronouced dead at the scene. He was working at the store as part of a community service sentence on a marijuana conviction.