A man gunned down his estranged wife and seven of her friends who were attending a party at her home.
Spencer James Hight brought “multiple firearms of different types” to the house in the sprawling Plano suburb in Dallas, Texas, police said.
After confronting Meredith Lane Hight, the 32-year-old killed her, said Plano Police Chief Gregory Rushin.
Ms Hight had filed for divorce in July 2017 after five years of marriage. The couple did not have any children.
He had not lived in the home since March 2017, according to the Dallas Morning News.
“We’ve never seen anything like this in our city before,” said Chief Rushin.
Two of the vicitms were reportedly alive when police arrived at the home but later died in hospital.
They have been named as 33-year-old Anthony Michael Cross, 24-year-old Olivia Nicole Deffner, 29-year-old James Richard Dunlop, 22-year-old Darryl William Hawkins, 31-year-old Rion Christopher Morgan, 28-year-old Myah Sade Bass and 25-year-old Caleb Seth Edwards.
They had been attending a party to watch local football team, The Dallas Cowboys.
“She was a cook, and a quite fine one, and she loved hosting friends and families,” Ms Hight’s mother Debbie Lane told a local news station.
Crystal Sugg, who works down the street from the Hight home, told the local Fox station she saw an altercation between a man and woman that was “low at first, but started to get louder.”
Ms Sugg said she saw the man pull out a rifle and follow the woman into the house.
Police said they were not actively pursuing other suspects.
Mr Hight’s motive and other details about the incident remain unclear at this time.
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