A quiet Ferguson neighborhood is reeling after police say a 61-year-old woman shot her boyfriend and his teenage daughter to death — then reportedly told officers she guessed she was “the villain in the story.”

Linda Hayden has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action in the deaths of Henry Williams, a retired Berkeley fire chief, and his 15-year-old daughter, Ha’layna Elliot.

Officers with the Ferguson Police Department responded around 6:15 p.m. Saturday to a home on the 500 block of North Clay Avenue after family members discovered the bodies, according to a criminal complaint.

Inside, they found Williams suffering from a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Ha’layna had been shot in the forehead.

The scene, investigators say, was devastating.

Police located Hayden locked inside a bedroom of the home. She was taken into custody without further incident. In the room, officers recovered a .38 caliber revolver with two spent casings still in the chamber.

According to detectives, Hayden made unsolicited remarks as she was detained.

She “spontaneously made a statement that she guessed she was the villain in the story and that [Williams] was a bad man and a narcissist,” investigators wrote in the complaint.

Authorities have not publicly disclosed a motive. All three — Hayden, Williams and Ha’layna — lived together in the home.

The victims’ lives, however, are being remembered far beyond the walls of that house.

Henry Williams had a long career in public service. He became fire chief in Berkeley, Missouri — a small city just outside St. Louis — in 2003 at the age of 40. He later retired, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In retirement, Williams remained deeply involved in his daughter’s life, particularly on the basketball court.

Ha’layna was a sophomore at Pattonville High School and a standout player on her team. Teammates describe her as electric — the kind of player who could change the energy in a gym with a single shot.

“Every time she shot the ball, we all watched, and it went in every time,” teammate Jael Williams told NBC affiliate KSDK.

Her father was often there, coaching from the sidelines.

“When we were practicing shooting and all the girls were making it and my shooting was horrible, he pulled me to the side, and he taught me how to shoot,” Jael said. “He was encouraging.”

Those who knew the family are now grappling with a sudden and violent end to what they say was a close-knit household.

The details in the complaint are stark. The position of the wounds. The locked bedroom. The revolver with two casings. And the chilling comment that Hayden allegedly made about being “the villain.”

Whether that remark signals remorse, resentment, or something else entirely is unclear.

What is clear is that a retired fire chief who once led emergency responders and a 15-year-old athlete with a future ahead of her are gone.

Hayden is being held at the St. Louis County Justice Center on a $2 million bond. She is scheduled to appear in court on March 2.

If convicted of first-degree murder, she faces the possibility of life in prison without parole.