A 77-year-old Indiana man calmly called police moments after he allegedly shot his wife, mother-in-law and two stepsons — killing three of them — to report the horrific crime.
Patrick Waite is facing three counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of his wife, mother-in-law and stepson and one count of attempted murder for gravely wounding his other stepson, according to a police affidavit and reports.
Waite is accused of methodically shooting his 61-year-old wife Alma and her family, going from room to room to blast each victim in the Haubstadt home they shared, police said.
After he opened fire on all four victims, Waite called 911 to explain what he had done, where he would be when officers arrived and where investigators could find the .45-caliber Smith & Wesson he used to gun down his relatives, according to reports.
“I shot them all. I’m certainly not proud of that fact,” he said in a chilling but casual confession, according to an affidavit acquired by the Courier & Press.
In addition to his wife Alma, Waite allegedly killed her 81-year-old mother Gloria Tapia and her 39-year-old son Fernando Tapia Ramirez Sr. He allegedly shot Alma’s other son, 44-year-old Juan Tapia Ramirez, in the neck and chest.
“There have been multiple individuals shot at this time,” a 911 operator can be heard relaying to officers. “I believe it’s four individuals. This is still an active situation. We are talking to the shooter now.”
Waite reportedly hurried the 911 operator off the phone so that he would have enough time to call his children and “tell them what he did” before the cops arrived to arrest him, Det. Jennifer Loesch wrote in the affidavit.
The alleged killer surrendered peacefully, according to reports.
Four other people were in the home when he went on his murderous rampage and survived the shooting unharmed, including a child, The Herald reported.
Waite had gone out to shoot a watersnake near a lake on his 1.5-acre property that afternoon, and when he came back inside the house, he had his gun in his back pocket, officials said.
That’s when an ongoing and wide-ranging argument between him and his wife – who had recently been asking for a divorce – reignited, authorities said.
Waite said his wife of two years told him “he needed to leave” because he brought a gun into the house, detectives wrote.
Initially, the disagreement was about his attendance at bible study, then how he was neglecting his bedridden mother-in-law, and finally it became about who owned the home, according to reports.
“Patrick Waite said Alma Waite told him she filed a quitclaim deed and put their home in her daughter’s name,” the affidavit states. “Patrick Waite stated he told her he wouldn’t leave the house because he had lived there for 27 years.”
That’s when Waite started shooting. He told investigators that he knew what he did was wrong and that God would never forgive him, according to reports.
“I’m as guilty as guilty can be,” he reportedly said.
Veronica Valenzuela, a cousin of the victims, told Bakersfield Now that she was shocked by the murders, and added that Waite had always seemed like a kind person. She and her family spent a month in the house with them in the last year.
“He catered to us,” she said of Waite. “He wouldn’t let us get up to get a cup of coffee. He took us out to dinner. He took us out to casinos.”
“He was, I can’t lie. Man was a very nice person, but never imagined something like this to happen. Alma was his world,” she added.
Her aunt Gloria, Alma’s mother, had recently suffered a stroke and was in her medical bed when Waite shot her, Valenzuela said.
The surviving stepson, Juan Ramirez, remains sedated in critical condition, Valenzuela told Bakersfield Now.
Valenzuela started a GoFundMe to help with the funeral costs.
Waite made his first appearance in court Monday morning by video at the Gibson County jail.
Waite, who has no prior arrests or criminal convictions listed in Indiana court records, is being held without bond, according to reports. He pleaded not guilty to all the counts.
His attorney, Scott Danks, told local news outlets that he had no comment.
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