Overview
- Walter Earnest Birdsong Jr., 62, and his wife, Amanda Lynn Birdsong, 43, were shot inside their Florence home Friday in what authorities call a family murder-suicide involving relative Kurt Tyler Birdsong, 56.
- After a frantic 911 call before 4 p.m., deputies arrived within eight minutes, tried for hours to contact the suspect, breached the house shortly after 7 p.m., and found Kurt dead in a locked bathroom from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot.
- Investigators link the violence to a yearslong dispute over a 14‑acre parcel, including a 2019 lawsuit Kurt lost because there was no written contract, and reports that he had been barred from the main house since 2022 after threats.
- Citing fears of stored explosives tied to the family’s firearms-coating business, the sheriff called in the FBI, ATF, state homeland security, and a bomb squad, and nearby homes were evacuated as armored teams advanced.
- Authorities say the probe continues as the FBI analyzes Kurt’s phone and computer and the ATF inventories weapons and possible explosive materials, while the family asks for privacy and the sheriff seeks a state review of how such land disputes are handled.