Tarrant neighborhood mourns as sheriff IDs victims of double murder-suicide near Azle
A married couple found dead Monday in their home near Azle were killed by gunshot wounds to the head, and a 16-year-old boy whose body was also at the scene died by suicide, authorities said.
The deaths of Harley W. Ryan, 58, and Xiumei Shi Ryan, 54, were homicides, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
Suayng Qu, 16, who also lived at the Red Oak Circle house off of Jacksboro Highway, died of a gunshot wound to his head that was self-inflicted, the medical examiner’s office said.
Qu was related to the Ryans, but authorities did not describe the relationship.
Chief of Staff David McClelland said Tuesday that the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office was looking at the case as a murder-suicide.
A small community in rural Tarrant County made up largely of retired and elderly residents was shaken Monday by the homicides and suicide involving a family.
The bodies were found Monday evening inside of the house in the 1500 block of Red Oak Circle. The Ryans and Qu were pronounced dead about 5 p.m.
The neighbors said Harley Ryan married Xiumei Shi Ryan, a Chinese immigrant, a few years ago and she brought over her two children born in China — a son who has been attending Azle High School and a daughter in college. Neighbors said they noticed police came to the home two weekends ago but the officers left after a couple of hours.
The sheriff’s office was alerted to the home Monday when a Ryan family member called authorities because the person had not heard from the family since Sunday night, McClelland said.
Xiumei Ryan filed for divorce from Harley Ryan on Monday, according to Tarrant County court records. She wrote in the divorce petition that there was discord and conflict in their marriage. The couple married in November 2013 and stopped living together as spouses on Feb. 2, according to the petition.
Red Oak Circle residents who spoke with the Star-Telegram on Tuesday morning were still processing the grisly deaths on their street. No one answered the door Tuesday at the home where the bodies were found.
Barbara Dowden, 87, lives across the street from the house and noticed the lights were all on when she went to bed around midnight Sunday night, which struck her as uncharacteristic of the family and strange. Around 3 a.m., she saw they were still on.
“I knew something was wrong then,” said Dowden, who has lived on the block for 50 years. “I didn’t know what.”
She didn’t think to call the police, wanting to mind her own business, and was shocked when saw eight to 12 police cars pull into her street Monday evening to investigate the deaths of three people.
“I feel very sorry for them,” she said of the victims.
Don Howard, 88, and Jean Howard, 84, said they have known Harley Ryan better than his wife or her children. But they would see the son in high school get off the bus after school and walk up the street to their home.
About a week ago, Don Howard bumped into Harley Ryan at Walmart and had a conversation with him, he said. He had an item he no longer wanted, and his neighbor told him he had been looking for it, so he gave it to him. Harley Ryan “didn’t let on like there were any problems or anything,” Don Howard said.
He and his wife felt in shock Tuesday and wanted answers about what happened.
“I just feel like I’ve lost a good neighbor,” he said. “You wouldn’t know there’s anything going wrong over there.”
Jean Howard said “it’s so shocking that it could happen in this neighborhood.”
“Most of the people here are elderly and there’s just a peaceful neighborhood,” she said. “You never have anything going on — ever.”
Dowden said though she hasn’t been close with the family, she’s known Harley Ryan since he moved in five or six years ago and she’s talked with Xiumei Shi Ryan as well as her son and daughter. She said the woman came from China with her daughter a few years ago, and then brought her son over about a year ago.
After the police came a couple of weeks ago, Dowden saw Xiumei Shi Ryan leave the home with her two children, she said.
She watched again Monday night as officers stayed on the scene until midnight. An officer asked her if she had any sort of video surveillance and she said no.
Dowden said Tuesday she was wishing she had spoken to the family before Sunday night.
“Perhaps I should’ve reached out,” she said.
Staff writers Emerson Clarridge and Kaley Johnson contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 3:16 PM.
