5.20.2010

San Jose Stand Off Ends In Man killing wife then self

http://www.ktvu.com/news/23611081/detail.html

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Police and a SWAT team that shut down a San Jose neighborhood Wednesday afternoon following reports of a man carrying a firearm confirmed by early evening that officers had found two people dead in an apparent murder-suicide.

Police were alerted of a disturbance involving a weapon at a two-story townhouse in the 100 block of Rose Lane, near Capitol Expressway, at 11:47 a.m., Sgt. Ronnie Lopez said.

"Upon arrival officers heard some shots being fired," Lopez said. "Not towards the officers, but inside the residence."

Officers began evacuating nearby homes and surrounded the townhouse where the disturbance was reported.

Police were trying to communicate with two people believed to be inside the home, a male and a female, Lopez said.

Lopez also said that initial details led police to believe it was the male who was armed.

A neighbor told KTVU she heard arguing coming from the unit and sensed trouble.

"I heard a man yelling at someone,” said next-door resident Irene Pardo. “You could hear, like, a 'lower' voice trying to talk back to him, telling him 'this is the way it has to be.' And he kept yelling and yelling with a real hostile voice. You could tell it was going to end up violent."

Initially it was not clear whether anyone was hit by the gunfire. But shortly before 5 p.m. police entered the townhouse and confirmed that a man and a woman were found dead in an apparent murder suicide.

After disclosing that bodies had been found, Lopez said investigators were collecting evidence and trying to put together pieces of the puzzle to determine the relationship between the man and woman.

Some neighbors told KTVU what they believed were the man and woman's names, but those names have not been officially released by San Jose police.

Authorities remained on the scene through the evening working on the case.