Police say kids likely killed at start of 21-hour standoff

For most or all of the 21-hour standoff between police and Gary Wayne Lindsey Jr., it’s likely the four children authorities believed he was holding as hostages were already dead, the Orlando Police Department revealed Thursday.

In a statement, the agency said its homicide detectives now believe the kids — Irayan Pluth, 11; Lillia Pluth, 10; Aidan Lindsey, 6; and Dove Lindsey, 1 — were killed “either shortly before or shortly after” Lindsey exchanged gunfire with police about midnight Sunday, prior to the standoff that dragged on until Monday evening.

Detectives believe the children were killed in their sleep, OPD said.

They were found wearing the same bedtime clothes in which their mother, 31-year-old mother Ciara López, had dressed them

Sunday night, when she called police to report she had been battered by Lindsey, authorities said Thursday.

When officers responded to the call, Lindsey shot and critically injured Officer Kevin Valencia, then barricaded himself inside López’s unit at the Westbrook Apartments.

OPD Chief John Mina told reporters on Tuesday that the department couldn’t specify when the children were killed. He said there was “never any indication” during the standoff that the four kids were in danger.

On Wednesday, López said she wanted her children to be remembered as “loving, wonderful children, full of life.”

“I am heartbroken and feel completely alone,” López said, according to a family representative.