An Oklahoma man was shot and killed Friday as he was attempting to drown his infant twins in a bathtub, authorities say.
The deceased suspect, 27-year-old Leland Foster, apparently showed up at a house in Ada, Okla., where the babies’ mother, Foster’s estranged wife, Michelle Forrells, was staying and forced her and the twins into a bathroom, NBC News reports. Foster held Forrells at knifepoint and started attempting to drown the infants.
A 12-year-old girl who was in the house at the time ran out of the house for help and came into contact with Cash Freeman, a neighbor. Freeman grabbed his revolver, entered the home, saw Foster trying to kill the babies—a boy and a girl—and shot him twice in the back, Ada police spokesperson Lisa Bratcher told the network.
The babies were flown to an Oklahoma City hospital and later released, KFOR reports; they are said to be “doing great.”
KFOR spoke to Freeman off camera. Freeman told the network that he was just doing what he had to to save the babies, but expressed concern that he could be in trouble.
Ada police told the news station that Freeman was questioned and released, but it will be up to the district attorney to determine if it was a justified homicide.
“I’ve held the babies, and I’ve played with them, and I just gave them clothes,” Summer Pierce, another neighbor, told KFOR.
“I think he did the right thing, because who knows what would happen?” she added. “Who knows what would have happened to the babies if he hadn’t intervened? They might not have made it.”