A father shot and killed his 8-year-old son before shooting himself in a murder-suicide inside a home in Lower Makefield Township, Pennsylvania, police said.
Lower Makefield Police responded to a home along the 500 block of Heritage Oak Drive shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday for a wellness check, investigators said. When there was no response at the door, the officers looked through the window and spotted an unresponsive boy on the living room floor.
The officers kicked the door in and entered the home, Lower Makefield Police Chief Kenneth Coluzzi said. They then found an 8-year-old boy on the floor as well as his 47-year-old father who was on the couch, police said. Both were suffering from gunshot wounds to their heads and they were both pronounced dead.
Police have identified them as 47-year-old Joseph Rozario and 8-year-old Fabian.
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Chief Coluzzi told NBC10 the cause of death was a murder-suicide. The Bucks County Coroner's Office plans to do an autopsy Friday.
“From what we could determine from the crime scene it’s clear that it’s a murder-suicide at this point,” Coluzzi said Thursday night. “A father shot the individual. Shot his son.”
Coluzzi said no one else was home at the time of the shooting and police recovered a handgun. They planned to interview the boy’s mother to determine if there were any domestic issues with the family prior to Thursday’s shooting.
Coluzzi said Fabian attended school at Afton Elementary School in the Pennsbury School District.
“They’re going to be providing any grief counseling for his friends and things like that. His classmates,” Chief Coluzzi said.
Grief counseling will be available for students on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Afton Elementary School, police announced Friday.
"We extend our deepest condolences to the family for their loss. When the death of a student occurs, it is particularly difficult and presents us with many questions that we may not be able to answer right away," Pennsbury School District said in a statement. "We will work to support students during the days and weeks ahead."
Coluzzi told NBC10 police were also speaking with neighbors who are already dealing with the recent flooding that killed five people and left two children missing in the nearby Upper Makefield and damaged homes in Lower Makefield.
“It’s tough news. It’s always tough when this happens and there’s a child involved,” he said. “And we just had a lot of tragedy in Upper Makefield and Lower Makefield with the flooding and the children being lost in Upper Makefield and the loss of other lives and the property damage. So we’re just coming off of that and now we have another tragedy that we’re dealing with.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), visiting www.thehotline.org or texting LOVEIS to 22522.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
