Man killed for trying to drown his 3-month old twin babies

Leland Forester

An Oklahoma man was shot on Friday dead by his neigbhour for trying to drown his 3-month-old twin children the police reported.

City of Ada spokeswoman Lisa Bratcher told reporters that Leland Foster, 27, of Poteau, died from gunshot wounds after a 12-year-old girl ran from the home and alerted a neighbor for help.

Bratcher said the neighbor, identified as Cash Freeman, told police he went to the home armed with a handgun and shot Foster twice after seeing him holding the infants under water in a bathtub while threatening the children’s mother with a knife.

The babies were "doing great" Sunday after having been released from the hospital, and the neighbor was questioned and released the police in Ada told NBC News.

Freeman told KFOR-TV he felt he did the right thing, but was worried he may be in trouble. The district attorney’s office will decide whether the killing was justified and if Freeman will face charges.

Bratcher said there might be police video of officers' response to the incident, which was called in at 12:38 p.m. (1:38 p.m. ET) Friday.

A neighbor, Summer Pierce, called the incident "awful."

"I've held the babies, and I've played with them, and I just gave them clothes," Pierce told KFOR -TV

"I think he did the right thing, because who knows what would happen?" Pierce said. "Who knows what would have happened to the babies if he hadn't intervened? They might not have made it."

The girl who ran for help wasn't identified other than as the granddaughter of the home's permanent residents.

Foster had been charged in 2011 with domestic abuse by strangulation and arson, KFOR-TV reported.