A Winfield, Kansas, man who shot and killed his four children and their mother before fatally shooting himself had an extensive prior criminal history in Johnson County.
According to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Ronald H. Williams Sr., 53, called 911 from his Winfield home at about 8:50 a.m. on Tuesday, telling police that he had shot and killed his four children and their mother and was going to shoot himself.
Winfield is a city of approximately 12,000 people in Cowley County. It is located about 35 miles southeast of Wichita.
Arriving officers heard a gunshot and retreated from the home, Winfield Police Chief Robbie DeLong said in a press briefing.
A SWAT team breached the home’s door at about 11 a.m., finding Williams, Kelly George, 44, and their four children, ages 3 to 9, all shot to death.
State court records show Williams Sr. faced eleven criminal cases between Franklin, Johnson, and Wyandotte Counties, dating back to 1993.
His most recent criminal case in Johnson County was from 2013.
Overall, Williams Sr. was named as a defendant in five criminal cases in Johnson County District Court.
Between 1993 and 2013, he was charged with three felonies and nine misdemeanors in Johnson County alone.
The Kansas Criminal Justice Information System lists 25 known aliases that Williams Sr. used.
Kansas Department of Corrections records show he served three separate stints in state prisons and was a registered sex offender. He served time in four state correctional facilities: El Dorado, Ellsworth, Lansing and Hutchinson.
He served just over eleven months in state custody, from March 1993 until February 1994, for a felony theft case out of Wyandotte County.
His next state prison stay lasted one year and four months, between June 1997 and October 1998, for three cases out of Wyandotte County, with two felony charges of attempted indecent liberties with a child between the ages of 14 and 16, and a misdemeanor battery charge.
Williams Sr. was back in state prison for only four and a half months between September 2005 and May 2006, with convictions out of Franklin County including intentional aggravated battery with great bodily harm, intentional battery and violation of a protective order from abuse.
According to the Kansas Department of Corrections, he was discharged from parole on January 15, 2016, and would have remained on the statewide sex offender registry until 2028.
