The man who killed six of his family members, Ron Lee Haskell, collapsed in court as capital murder charges against him were being read aloud in a Harris County Courtroom on Friday. He had to be wheeled from the courtroom in a wheelchair.
Haskell is charged with shooting his ex-wife’s sister and her family on Wednesday execution style. On Wednesday, Haskell arrived at the home of Steven and Katie Stay in Spring, Texas dressed as a FedEx delivery man, only to find the the two were not at home. He was turned away at the door by one of the children at the house, his 15-year-old ex-niece. But, moments later, Haskell returned to the home, kicked in the door, tied up the children and proceeded to wait for their parents to return.
When the parents returned home, Haskell tied them up as well and forced the parents and children to lay face-down on the floor and began questioning them on the whereabouts of his ex-wife. When the family related that they did not know where his ex-wife was, he shot the entire family in the head, killing both parents and four of the children. Only one child survived, she did so by playing dead after her ex-uncle shot her in the back of the head.
After shooting the family, Haskell left the home. When he did, the wounded teenager, 15-year-old Cassidy Stay, called 911 and reported that Haskell was on his way to her grandparent’s house to kill them as well.
Armed with that information, authorities intercepted Haskell on a dead-end street and rammed his vehicle front and back with armored vehicles to prevent his escape. A 3.5 hour stand-off ensued between Haskell and police. In the end, Haskell gave up quietly, exiting his vehicle and kneeling on the ground.
Haskell’s wife, Melanie filed for divorce from Haskell on Valentine’s Day of this year. Prior to filing for divorce, Melanie had Haskell served with a protective order in July of 2013. Previous that, in 2008, Haskell was charged with Domestic Violence for dragging his then wife by the hair and punching her repeatedly. After that assault, his ex-wife said that she decided to go to the children’s room to sleep, but Haskell followed her to that room, dragged her out by her hair and began punching her again.
Haskell’s ex-wife left Utah in the fall of 2013 with the assistance of Katie Stay and resettled in Houston, Texas. Haskell followed her there.
On week ago in California, on July 3rd, Haskell’s mother, 61-year-old Karla Haskell also filed a domestic violence complaint against him after he taped her to a chair, choked, and threatened to kill her for talking to his ex-wife. He hid all the phones in the house and left his mother taped up for four hours.
Authorities searched for Haskell for several day after that attack but were unable to locate him, so he subsequently was not arrested on those charges.
The children shot and killed by Haskell were two girls, seven and nine, and two boys ages four and fourteen.
Haskell’s attorney, Doug Durham, said after Haskell’s courtroom collapse, that Haskell is suffering from mental illness.