Lenexa police identify victims in triple shooting being investigated as murder suicide
Police have identified the three people who were shot and killed inside a suburban Lenexa home early Sunday morning as a 20-year-old resident of the home, his 22-year-old girlfriend and the young woman’s ex-boyfriend.
The three killed were John M. Williamson, 20, of Lenexa, Sara M. Beck, 22, of Belton, and Dustin J. Johnson, 37, of Belton.
The Lenexa Police Department is investigating the shooting as a murder-suicide. Master Police Officer Danny Chavez, a spokesman for the department, said in an email Monday that detectives suspect Johnson was the shooter, though the investigation is ongoing.
Police are still working to determine what led up to the shooting, but Chavez said Beck and Williamson were in a dating relationship. Johnson is believed to be an ex-boyfriend of Beck’s. Detectives do not currently know whether Johnson and Williamson, the resident of the home, knew one another.
Officers were called to the house in the 8400 block of Laurelwood Street around 1:20 a.m. Sunday on a reported shooting. When they arrived, police found three people inside with gunshot wounds.
One was declared dead at the scene. The other two died after arriving at an area hospital. Two other adults were inside the house when the shooting unfolded, but police have said they were not involved.
The killings shocked neighbors. Several watched from their homes as police canvassed the residence investigating Sunday morning.
“Nothing like this ever happens out here — pretty surprising and shocking,” Chad Talbott, a neighbor, told The Star, adding: “It’s super unfortunate and sad. We feel terrible for anybody that was involved in it.”
The deaths were the first homicides reported by Lenexa police this year. The last killing was reported in May, when police fatally shot a man they said fired first at authorities. The Johnson County District Attorney later ruled the shooting to be justified.
Before that, the last homicide recorded in Lenexa was a double stabbing in 2014, when two men were killed during a burglary.
