2 dead in apparent murder-suicide at home near South Park, police say

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A man and a woman are dead after an apparent murder-suicide at a home in the South Park area Monday evening, police said.

The double shooting happened at San Marcos Avenue near Kalmia Street around 7:45 p.m. in the Burlingame neighborhood, according to the San Diego Police Department. Video from the scene showed the 2400 block of San Marcos Avenue blocked off with police tape.

When officers arrived to the home, they found a 51-year-old man with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the porch. A handgun and cartridge case were close to him, acting Lt. Christopher Leahy with the SDPD Homicide Unit said.

While police were providing aid to the man, they looked into the home and spotted an 83-year-old woman bleeding on the ground in the living room. Officers went inside to help the woman, who was pronounced dead at the scene, SDPD said.

Officials said the man was taken to a hospital and was also pronounced dead.

It appears the two were mother and son and that they both lived in the home together, according to Leahy.

“This is a pretty quiet neighborhood, and to have something like this happen, it will reverberate, you know, throughout,” the acting lieutenant said, adding later, “The whole thing is just very, very tragic.”

A neighbor told NBC 7 he was jumpstarting his wife’s car when he heard what sounded like a crash.

“I thought it was a car accident. It sounded like a deep crash. It didn’t sound like a high-pitched pistol or something like that,” he said. “And the cops were just flying, flying, flying by very fast.”

Police say they believe there is no danger to the community. Investigators remained at the scene for around five hours to collect evidence.

If you have any information about this incident, SDPD encourages you to call the Homicide Unit at 619-531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.