New Jersey Boy, 11, Finds Parents Shot Dead In Murder-Suicide

BERGENFIELD, N.J. — An 11-year-old Bergenfield, N.J., boy found his parents dead Saturday morning in what authorities called a murder-suicide in a home across the street from the local high school. The couple has a history of domestic issues.

West Clinton Avenue in Bergenfield, N.J.
Photo Credit: *Robyn Urman*

Jerry DeMarco

03/19/2016 10:17 p.m.

Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal said he was temporarily withholding identities of the parents until next of kin could be notified.

Borough police were called to the West Clinton Avenue home at 10:18 a.m. after the boy ran to a neighbor and told them "his parents weren't breathing," Grewal told Daily Voice.

The body of his 36-year-old mother was found upstairs in the home, while his 44-year-old father's was found in a basement utility room -- the victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the prosecutor said.

"We are investigating this incident as a domestic violence based murder-suicide," Grewal told Daily Voice, moments after concluding a news conference at the scene.

The Bergen County Medical Examiner was headed into the West Clinton Avenue home just after 5 p.m.

State child welfare authorities were taking care of the boy, who has three other siblings from the same parents.

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