Boy, 8, and Sister, 6, Found Fatally Shot Inside Burning Home in Kansas: ‘Indescribable Pain and Sorrow’

A Missouri community is grieving the loss of two elementary school children after they were found fatally shot inside a burning home last week.

Jeffrey Hatcher, 8, and his sister 6-year-old Charlotte, were found dead inside a burning home on Northwest 91st Terrace in Kansas City, Mo., on Thursday, Jan. 2, according to Kansas City police, KSHB, The Kansas City Star and KMBC reported. Both appeared to have been shot.

The children’s father, 38-year-old Zachary Hatcher, was also found dead of a gunshot wound inside the residence. Police now say he killed Jeffrey and Charlotte before turning his weapon on himself, per The Kansas City Star and KMBC.

Police say they responded to the residence on Thursday evening to carry out a welfare check, the outlets reported. 

Once at the scene, officers saw smoke coming out of the house and, soon after entering the home, had to retreat as the fire spread inside. 

After fire department officials extinguished the fire, police found Jeffrey and Charlotte with their father inside.

Charlotte and her father died at the scene; Jeffrey died after being taken to a hospital.  

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In a statement to PEOPLE, the Platte County R-3 School District confirmed the two children were students in the district. Jeffrey was in 2nd grade and Charlotte was in kindergarten at Pathfinder Elementary. 

In a GoFundMe set up to assist with funeral costs, the children are being remembered for bringing “immeasurable joy and light into the lives of everyone who knew them.”  

“Words cannot fully express the indescribable pain and sorrow we are experiencing as we mourn their passing,” read part of the fundraiser. 

In an obituary, Jeffrey is being remembered as a “voracious reader” with an “insatiable” drive for learning, earning the title of the resident “Keeper of Odd Knowledge” at his school. 

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