US: Massachusetts Father kills daughter and shoots son in head before turning gun on himself in horrific murder-suicide after wife leaves him
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US: Massachusetts Father kills daughter and shoots son in head
before turning gun on himself in horrific murder-suicide after
wife leaves him
By James Nye
PUBLISHED:
06:09 GMT, 29 July 2012
|
UPDATED:
06:18 GMT, 29 July 2012
In Oxford, Massachusetts, a
seven-year-old girl is dead and her nine-year-old brother
seriously injured with a gunshot wound to the head after their
41-year-old father apparently shot both before turning the gun
on himself, ending his own life.
Authorities said that a family
member found the bodies of 41-year-old Daryl Benway and his
daughter, Abigail, on Saturday night in their Oxford home.
Benway's 9-year-old son, Owen, was shot in the head and taken to
a hospital in serious condition.
Abigail and her father were found in the master bedroom of the Benway's 128 Main St. residence and his seriously injured son was discovered in the kitchen and transported to UMass Memorial Children's Medical Center in a critical condition.
Worcester District Attorney
Joseph D. Early Jr. said during a news conference that he would
not speculate on a motive but that Mr. Benway and his wife,
Kelleen, separated three to four weeks ago.
Neighbours of the pair confirmed that Ms. Benway, known to some as Kelly, was finding a new place to live.
'It doesn’t get much worse than this,' said Mr. Early.
'It’s horrible. It’s a horrible scene.'
The Benway's lived on the second
floor of the residence and Mr Benway's brother Shawn apparently
occupied
the first floor with his wife and the brother's mother.
Shawn Benway called 911 after
hearing the shots come from upstairs.
While
police would not divulge the type of gun used in the shooting,
they did
confirm that Mr Benway's license had expired in 1999.
When
Kelleen Benway arrived at the family home, she was restrained by
police
officers because of confusion over who was responsible for the
shooting.
She later went to the hospital to
be with her son along with her 25-year-old daughter Nickole, who
was from a previous marriage.
Neighours described Mr. Benway as an overweight man who had a career in information technology and according to his Facebook page he worked at TJX Companies and attended Oxford High School.
'I don’t understand how you can do something like that,' said neighbor John Forand.
'I wished you would have called me I can’t believe this when we talked the other day everything seemed kool I’m gonna miss you,' wrote one. Others simply asked 'Why?'