A man killed eight of his relatives, including four children, during a family dinner gathering in the city of Billings, Montana, before taking his own life, according to an account provided by family members to the Associated Press. Jennifer Mercer, a family friend authorized to disclose details of the incident, said the victims belong to four generations of a single family, ranging in age from a great-grandmother in her nineties to a seven-year-old girl. Mercer had launched an online fundraising campaign to help cover funeral costs and other expenses resulting from the incident. According to the police, authorities received a report on Sunday evening regarding a family disturbance inside a house in Billings. When their personnel arrived at the site, they heard gunshots coming from the back of the house, before a fire broke out and completely consumed it. Investigators confirmed the deaths of a number of people, including four children, in addition to a person who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Authorities have not yet released detailed names of the victims or the motive behind the attack, while investigations are still ongoing. According to relatives of the victims, the shooting took place while family members were gathered for Sunday dinner. A family account stated that the perpetrator is a relative of the victims. The incident is the 22nd mass killing recorded in the United States since the beginning of 2026, according to a database managed by the Associated Press and USA Today in collaboration with Northeastern University. Northeastern University Criminology Professor James Alan Fox said that 15 of the mass killings recorded this year were linked to family disputes, a percentage higher than the usual average which approaches half of these crimes. The Montana crime is the deadliest in the United States since April, when a father in Shreveport, Louisiana, killed eight children, including seven of his own, and critically injured his wife and another woman. Details regarding the familial relationship and the number of people killed by the attacker are based on the family's account, while the police have not yet published a final statement containing all identities and investigation results.