FALMOUTH, Mass. — Police worked into the night investigating a murder at a home on Old Main Road in Falmouth Tuesday.
Officers found a young woman shot to death inside a bedroom upstairs.
“They were concerned that she might still be alive, and they entered the house and went upstairs while the gunman was outside the house still holding the gun,” said Michael O’Keefe, district attorney for the Cape and Islands.
While police responded to the victim, they spent hours in a standoff with the suspect outside, who was still holding a gun.
Police told people who live nearby to evacuate their homes.
“In case there was gunfire, we didn’t want anybody to get involved in crossfire,” said Edward Dunne, Falmouth’s police chief.
“They just said you have to come now, so I walk out. Then you see this policeman with guns on the ground pointing to that house, so it was pretty scary,” said Barbara Fagan, who lives nearby.
After a few hours, police were able to safely arrest Tyler Gibbs, 23, and charged him with killing Kianna Barrows inside her home.
She was 20 years old.
“Well it’s very frightening, especially in this neighborhood, you don’t hear about that happening in Megansett. It’s a very safe neighborhood, and it’s one of those places where your kids are out playing, you’re out walking your dogs and you feel safe – you don’t have this happen here,” said Camala Richardson, who lives nearby.
While SWAT teams and police were in a standoff with the suspect, North Falmouth School – right across the street - was put into lockdown as a precaution.
“We safely evacuated all the children through the buses because it was an early dismissal day, by the way. But we were working with the superintendent and able to get them all free, safely out of here, and return home or to their parents at another location,” said Chief Dunne.
The DA wouldn’t give details on the relationship between the victim and the suspect, but he believes they did know each other.
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