Police: 2 deaths after standoff appear to be murder-suicide
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – The deaths of two men whose bodies were found in a northeast Philadelphia row home after a standoff were apparently a case of murder-suicide, police said Sunday.
A police spokeswoman said a 25-year-old man apparently killed another man, also in his early 20s, before turning the weapon on himself after officers responded Saturday afternoon to the Harrowgate neighborhood after a report of a person with a gun and gunshots.
The identities of the two men weren’t immediately available. A 40-caliber handgun was found inside the home.
“It appears at this time to be a murder-suicide,” a police spokeswoman said Sunday.
Police said officers responding Saturday immediately came under fire from someone inside the home, and another arriving police vehicle was also fired upon. The windshields or windows of three police vehicles were hit by gunfire, police said, but no officers were injured and officers didn’t return fire.
Police made an effort to contact the occupants of the home using a bullhorn until about 3:40 p.m. Saturday, when a gunshot was heard from inside. A SWAT team entered the home and found two men with gunshot wounds to the head; they were pronounced dead shortly afterward, police said.