Police say estranged husband broke into home, shot wife then himself

Police responding to a 911 call at 11:15 p.m. on July 23 at a home in Collinsville, a suburb of Tulsa, heard a woman screaming followed by what sounded like a gunshot, according to a statement from local police. A second emergency call came from a neighboring home, where a boy reported that his stepfather had shot his mother, police said.

When officers arrived, they found Sara Gilson and Jeremiah “Shawn” Duffey dead from apparent gunshot wounds. Investigators said all indications were that Duffey had shot Gilson before turning the gun on himself, according to police statements. The case remained under investigation.

Gilson, who posted on TikTok under the handle “mrsgilson” about fashion and parenting, had sought a protective order against Duffey on June 10, according to Tulsa state court records. The same day, another woman filed for a protective order against Duffey on behalf of her daughter, records show. Court filings connected to that order, reported by the Oklahoman, alleged that a youth basketball coach had caught Duffey kissing and fondling the girl, and that Duffey had sent the girl inappropriate text messages, invited her to his hotel room while traveling, and gave her money intended “to keep her quiet.”

On July 11, Gilson posted a video showing her sitting on a chair with a somber expression under text that read: “Preparing for when Netflix drops a documentary about my soon to be ex husband who I just found out is a pedophile.” The caption said: “I wish I was joking #plottwist #netflix #documentary.” The video had been viewed about 15 million times as of July 26.

After the shooting, Gilson’s son was placed in the custody of another parent uninvolved in the case, police said. An online fundraiser for Gilson’s children described her as “an incredible mom” who “loved them fiercely, worked hard to provide for them and dreamed of giving them the best life possible.”

More than half of female homicide victims in the United States are killed by current or former male intimate partners, according to crime report data cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The same data shows that about 20% of homicide victims overall die at the hands of an intimate partner.