Mother of Kansas man who shot sheriff, undersheriff and killed father has been charged

The mother of the man responsible for the 2019 Rice County shootings, where the sheriff and undersheriff were wounded and his father was killed, has been charged in connection to the case, the Rice County District Attorney confirmed this week.

The shootings ended when David Madden killed himself on the second floor of his father’s home in rural Rice County. His father, Tom Madden, died downstairs.

Shirley Loder, David Madden’s mother, was charged this month with suspicion of criminal distribution of a firearm for allegedly giving Madden a firearm used on April 29, 2019, Rice County Attorney Remington Dalke said in an email.

If convicted, Loder could face up to a year in jail and as much as a $2,500 fine.

It’s unclear which gun belonged to 67-year-old Loder, who was arrested and booked into the Reno County Correctional Facility on Friday. Loder, of Arlington, posted the $2,500 bond that same day, the Reno County Sheriff’s Office said.

Madden, who was unable to legally have a gun as a convicted felon, used a .45-caliber handgun to shoot undersheriff Chad Murphy four times, according to court records. After that, he picked up a “laundry basket” of guns and ammunition from his house then headed to his father’s home, where he shot and killed his father, shot sheriff Bryant Evans as he drove by and then killed himself, the records say.

A high-powered rifle could have been used to hit the sheriff through a patrol vehicle door and disable a Dodge truck that drove by the father’s home.

Erin Baker, Madden’s then girlfriend, was previously sentenced to 60 days in jail and 18 months of probation in connection to the shootings. She drove the car — with her young child in the backseat — when Madden first shot Murphy. She then took Madden to his house for guns and ammunition before they drove to his father’s home.

She watched him exit the car and start shooting at his father before she drove off, court records say.

She “never once called 911,” the records say.