A celebration of life will be held today for a Grand Haven Township family who were killed in a murder-suicide last month.
Amanda “Mandy” Karolkiewicz and her six children, ages 5 to 15, will be remembered during the service at Harvest Vertical Church in the western Michigan community.
They were fatally shot by the family patriarch, Kris Karolkiewicz, in their home on July 24. Karolkiewicz, 47, then set the house on fire and killed himself, police said.
Police are continuing to search for a motive in the case. The couple was married for 16 years.
Kris Karolkiewicz won’t be part of the Monday memorial.
Besides Mandy Karolkiewicz, 39, a native of Royal Oak, killed in the attack were: Teddie, 5; Ella, 11; Caroline, 11; Smith, 11; Bennet, 12; and Keegan, 15.
The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office is awaiting the results of lab and toxicology tests from the investigation.
It wasn’t known if Kris Karolkiewicz’s recent loss of a job played a role in the shootings. He was vice president of sales and marketing for the American Heart Association from September 2023 until last month, the organization said.
A spokesperson wouldn’t say why Karolkiewicz no longer works there. A relative told WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids that he had been fired.
Karolkiewicz purchased the 9mm pistol used in the shootings on July 16, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Mandy Karolkiewicz wrote on Reddit that her husband had taken the loss of an earlier job particularly hard. She said in the 2024 post that she “watched his ego finally break” but didn’t elaborate.
She didn’t mention the job, which was the one he held before he was hired by the heart association.
Mandy Karolkiewicz was a substitute elementary school teacher for the Grand Haven Area Public Schools.
As of Aug. 23, a GoFundMe online fundraising campaign had generated more than $44,000 for legal expenses related to the murders and a scholarship to be established in the Karolkiewicz children’s names.
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Grand Haven Township family killed in murder-suicide to be remembered
Reporting by Francis X. Donnelly, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Francis X. Donnelly, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
