MANSFIELD, Ohio (WOIO) – Mansfield police are investigating a possible murder-suicide involving a father and his 9-year-old son who were found shot at a home on Woodville Road Saturday afternoon.
Officers and medics responded to the home around 12:06 p.m. Saturday.
A 40-year-old man was found dead at the scene, and his 9-year-old son was rushed to a local hospital where he died, according to police.
The man’s girlfriend was also in the home at the time but was physically unharmed, neighbors said.
Neighbors express disbelief
Frances Gray and her husband Shawn McArdle, who were friends of the father and son, said the 40-year-old man was also the landlord of the apartments they live in next door.
“We can’t see him doing any harm to his son because his son meant everything to him,” Gray said.
“I don’t believe it at all to save my soul. He would never harm his own child at all whatsoever,” McArdle said.
Gray said the man “was a good friend, he was a good landlord. He gave people chances that didn’t need chances.”
Gray also told 19 News that the girlfriend was also inside the home at the time but did not appear to be physically harmed, “I was asking her what happened, what’s going on and she was probably in shock or whatever. She was like I don’t know. She just heard a pop. And she was upstairs is all she kept on saying.”
The couple says they’re devastated and still in shock that this could happen so close to home, “He was just an amazing guy, and he loved his son and we’re just confused,” Gray said.
Police have gathered evidence and are working to determine exactly what led up to the deadly shooting.
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