N.C. Father Fatally Shot Daughter, 16, and Son, 20, Before Turning Gun on Himself

Alexander Housden, 20, was a "rising star" at college. His little sister, Kaylee Housden, 16, was set to graduate high school in 2025

A sister and brother from Winston-Salem, N.C., are dead after their father shot and killed them in a tragic murder-suicide, police said.

On Tuesday, just before 3:30 a.m., David Lee Housden, 55, shot and killed his son, Alexander David Housden, 20, and his daughter, Kaylee Nicole Housden, 16, at their home before turning the gun on himself, the Winston-Salem Police Department said at a press conference.

“It’s a somber day in our city,” Winston-Salem Police Department Chief William H. Penn Jr. said at a news conference Tuesday, WXII 12 reports.

The siblings’ mother was in the home on Water Lily Lane when the shootings took place and called 911, police said.

Police arrived at about 3:30 a.m. and found Alexander and Kaylee dead of gunshot wounds. David shot both children before taking his own life, police said.

“So now three lives are gone,” one neighbor who didn’t want to be identified told WXII 12.

She said she has known the family for 12 years and that nothing seemed amiss.

“We see from the surface,” she told the outlet. “And it just appears normal.”

As she spoke to WXII 12, a Dallas Cowboys flag hanging from a pole near the Housden’s front porch fluttered in the wind and a deflated red, white and green blow-up Christmas decoration lay crumpled on the lawn.

“And then you’re hit with, ‘We never saw that coming.’ Somebody needed help and nobody reached out for it and nobody saw it and it’s too late.”

Alexander was a junior at Winston-Salem State University who was majoring in exercise science and minoring in Biology.

A junior at Atkins High School, Kaylee was a member of the Color Guard who loved to swim and take walks with her best friend around the neighborhood, her friend said on Facebook.

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In a GoFundMe set up to help Alexander and Kaylee's mother, Jennifer Housden, organizers wrote that Kaylee was their best friend and that they wanted to help her family in the aftermath of the tragedy.

“It is with a heavy heart that we write all of this for you,” Lorelai Montileone and Wisteria Ewing said in the GoFundMe.

Alexander, they wrote, “was a fun, loving, spirited young man who had many dreams. He graduated from Atkins High School in 2021 and was pursuing his medical career at Winston Salem State University. 

“Alex knew how to make you laugh, especially on the bad days and always had a joke to tell. His humor lit up the Housden household time and time again.”

Kaylee, “was a loving, energetic, God driven soul,” they wrote. “Kaylee always put others before herself and would never second guess that decision. When you met Kaylee, you knew instantly that you wanted her to be in your life. 

Set to graduate high school in 2025, they wrote, “Her laughter, heart of gold, and unselfishness will continue to live throughout the community.”

In a statement about Alexander, WSSU's Exercise Physiology Department said he “was one of the best students in the exercise science program,” WXII 12 reports.

“His aspiration was to become a physician’s assistant, and there was no doubt that he would," the statement reads, per the outlet. "He was an ‘A’ student, who was always willing to help other students – the epitome of a good classmate. He engaged his professors in intentional conversations after class about his career path and academic journey.

“He was focused and insightful. Alexander was a unique person and a rising star. All his professors appreciated him and his originality. The students, faculty and staff of the WSSU Exercise Physiology Department are all heartbroken and devastated by this tragedy that extinguished a bright light too soon."

Anyone with any further details about this case should call the Winston-Salem Police Department at 336-773-7700, Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800, or En Espanol 336-728-3904.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.

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