Four of five killed in Belfair identified

Authorities released the names Saturday of three of the four people found dead on a rural property near Belfair, along with the name of the man believed to have shot them before shooting himself in front of deputies Friday afternoon.

Mason County Chief Deputy Coroner Jane Pentz identified the victims as: Lana J. Carlson, 49, and her sons, Quinn Carlson, 16; and Tory Carlson, 18. The shooter was Carlson’s husband, David Wayne Campbell, 51.

Pentz said the identity of the fourth victim, a neighbor, will be released once relatives are notified.

A 12-year-old girl at the scene Friday, believed to be a family member, was not shot, and left the property, accompanied by law enforcement. Authorities hope she will be able to reveal some details about what took place.

A neighbor remembers hearing gunshots the night before, about 8:15 p.m. He thought it was target shooting.

“The gunshots, I figured, was target practice. I never thought more about it,” said Jack Pigott.

Campbell and Carlson were married in November 2009, King County records show. The boys were adopted during a previous marriage, Pigott said, as was a daughter, from China. Carlson’s previous husband died of cancer, Pigott said.

Campbell ran a business called Campbell Family Heating and Air Conditioning, according to state records, while Carlson – who also went by Lana Jane Campbell – had registered a business called Crispy Edges. She had purchased a food truck, and she and Campbell had been working on the truck but had not been able to secure the county permits needed to operate it, Pigott said.

The neighbor also said Campbell had recently been hospitalized, but he didn’t know why.

“He’s heavily medicated with something,” Pigott said. “I’ve never seen him drinking.”

Authorities were alerted to the killings Friday morning when Campbell called a deputy to say he had shot two children, a woman and another person at a residence northwest of Belfair.

Mason County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Ryan Spurling said the gunman called a deputy’s cellphone, not 911, to report the deaths. The man had the deputy’s business card from a previous interaction, Spurling said.

A SWAT team, deputies and police arrived at the property on Northeast Horseshoe Drive. The dirt- and stone-packed road in a rural, wooded area outside of Belfair, southwest of Bremerton, led to a sprawling property with 11 structures on it and several animals, including a dog and at least one horse.

And Campbell, still alive and armed with a handgun.

Officers, “took cover, fearing for their own safety,” said Spurling, “not knowing exactly what they were dealing with.”

A Washington State Patrol plane mounted with a camera circled above the home, giving authorities a bird’s-eye view. And for 3½ hours, a deputy sergeant tried to persuade the man to surrender, but he finally walked outside and shot himself, the sheriff’s office said.

After Campbell shot himself, officers entered and searched the various structures on the property, which weren’t clearly visible from the road.

In a different structure from where Campbell had been during negotiations, authorities found the bodies of Carlson, her two sons and the neighbor.

A family friend at the crime scene Friday said she had seen the family Thursday night and didn’t know anything was wrong.

Campbell “loved his family, he did everything for them,” said Adeline Peebles, 39, as she sat in her car on Horseshoe Drive.

“I can’t believe this happened,” she said.

Peebles, whose husband had worked with Campbell, said the two families were so close they spent holidays together, sometimes birthdays.

She described Tory as “the best kid” and a “hard worker.”

“He wouldn’t talk back,” Peebles said, crying.

As Lana Carlson talked about opening the food truck, Peebles said, “We’d just sit here and eat all the little things she was trying out.”

Investigation continues

Law enforcement Saturday continued with the grim work of trying to determine what provoked the incident.

One key could be the 12-year-old girl who was able to leave the property. Spurling said Saturday he didn’t know if she had been injured.

Meanwhile, detectives had wrapped up their work at the scene Friday night. State troopers had made scene drawings to render a computerized reproduction of what likely occurred, according to Spurling.

Other detectives would be sharing evidence and notes from interviews with people who had called to say they had information that might help or that they knew those involved, he said.

“We have pieces of information all over the place,” Spurling said Saturday morning.

Jack Pigott got lots of calls, too – from worried neighbors.

“I’m looking at the TV and there’s a picture of my road. I said, ‘My God, that’s my driveway. There’s SWAT cars … halfway down the road,’ ” Pigott said Friday. “I’m kind of surprised this happened up here in my paradise.”

This story was originally published February 27, 2016 at 11:35 AM with the headline "Four of five killed in Belfair identified."