Victims found dead in Lenexa shooting ending in standoff with police identified

Police have identified the two victims killed in a shooting that led to a five-hour standoff Friday in Lenexa.

Lenexa residents Sheila M. Donovan, 52, and Tyler K. Donovan, 22, were allegedly killed by their relative Todd Michael Donovan, 53— who was charged with two counts of First-Degree Murder by the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office..

Friday night, around 8:30 p.m. police responded to a report of an armed disturbance at a home in the 7900 block of Hallet Street. When officers arrived, they heard multiple gunshots coming from the area of a home in that block, said Danny Chavez, a spokesman with Lenexa police.

Lenexa officers spoke on the phone with a man suspected of firing shots and learned he was inside his residence on Hallet Street. The man barricaded himself in the home and refused to comply with officers’ requests to come outside peacefully, Chavez said.

Chavez said negotiators spoke with the man for nearly two hours before he stopped speaking with law enforcement.

During the course of the negotiation, the suspect told police he had taken some pills, Chavez said.

“We were using tools — drones, robot — to ensure it was safe to make entry since we believed the suspect had already fired a weapon when officers arrived,” Chavez said.

Around 1:50 a.m., the Lenexa Tactical Team entered the home and took the man into custody. He was immediately taken to a hospital on a suspected overdose, Chavez said.

Officers found a woman and a man both dead inside the home. Police are investigating the incident as a double homicide, Chavez said.

“The preliminary investigation indicates that both deceased individuals were shot,” Chavez said in a news release. “As part of this investigation, it was also learned that a neighbors dog was shot and killed around the same time that officers responded on the initial call.”

Chavez said the suspect is alive and recovering at a hospital.

The killings mark Lenexa’s second and third homicides of 2024, according to data maintained by The Star.

The Star’s Kendrick Calfee contributed to this piece.

This story was originally published November 3, 2024 at 1:20 PM.