A Fayetteville businessman who coached basketball at the religious school where his teenagers attended classes fatally shot his family in their upscale home before turning the gun on himself, police said yesterday.
Authorities would not hint at what might have driven William Maxwell to kill his wife and two children Monday night. Friends described the Maxwells as churchgoers and good neighbors, with a student-athlete son and a daughter who was a cheerleader applying to colleges.
"Billy, if you knew him, loved his family. Everybody knew that. That's what makes this so tragic," said the Rev. John Cook of Snyder Memorial Baptist Church, where the family was active. "Obviously something tragic was going on for this to happen."
Police said that Maxwell, 47, shot and killed his wife, Kathryn, 43, and their children, Connor, 17, and Cameron, 15, before killing himself. Connor Maxwell was found in an upstairs bedroom; the other three bodies were in the kitchen.
William Maxwell was a builder and land developer who built residential subdivisions in Cumberland and Harnett counties, said John McKinney of Fayetteville, who described himself as Maxwell's business partner and friend.
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