FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Two people are dead and an infant was critically hurt in an apparent murder-suicide in Fayetteville on Wednesday evening, officials say.
Cumberland County deputies responded to a home in the 3400 block of Cumberland Road around 6:15 p.m.
Officials said a 7-year-old called 911 and said his mom had been shot.
Upon arrival, deputies found a baby suffering from a gunshot wound.
They also found the body of a woman who had been shot to death and the body of a man who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
“It is horrible for children to see their mother murdered in their presence and then for a baby to suffer a gunshot wound to the chest is just horrific,” said Ronnie M. Mitchell, the attorney for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.
Officials said the couple’s infant was critically injured in the shooting and was transported to Cape fear Valley Medical Center.
The couple’s two other children, ages 7 and 8, are being cared for by deputies pending the location of next-of-kin, officials said.
Neighbors told CBS North Carolina that the family lived in home for just a few months. The family was planning to move out of the home in the next couple of days and electricity had already been shut off in the house, Mitchell said.
The family stayed to themselves, but typically greeted other residents, neighbors said.
“I don’t think these people were stable because anybody with any common sense would not hurt anybody — especially a child,” said neighbor Daisy Torres.
The names of those involved in the incident have not been released.
