Police said a father and son died in an apparent murder-suicide.
The man, 40, and his son, 9, were discovered in a Mansfield, Ohio, residence on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 29, after authorities responded to a report of “two individuals with gunshot wounds,” according to a news release from the Mansfield Police Department (MPD).
Authorities arrived at the location around noon local time and discovered the father and son inside the house. The boy was sent to neighboring OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital, where “he later succumbed to his injuries,” according to authorities. His father, meanwhile, was pronounced dead on the scene.
Mansfield police called the fatal occurrence a “possible” murder-suicide. “While the circumstances appear to be a murder-suicide, detectives from the Mansfield Division of Police, along with the Richland County Coroner’s Office, continue to investigate,” according to a press release. “Out of respect for the family, the names of the individuals are not being released at this time.”
The Mansfield Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Sunday, November 30.
According to neighbors, the father’s girlfriend was also present throughout the incident, but she did not appear to be physically wounded.
Frances Gray, a neighbor and friend of the father and son, told the Ohio outlet, “I was asking her what happened, what’s going on, and she was probably in shock or whatever.”
“She said, ‘I don’t know. “She just heard a pop,” Gray said of the girlfriend. “And she was upstairs is all she kept on saying.”
Gray and her husband, Shawn McArdle, spoke with Cleveland 19 News and expressed bewilderment and astonishment that the father, who was also their landlord, and his son died in a murder-suicide.
Gray characterized the father as “an amazing guy” who “loved his son.”
According to Gray, the man was also “a good friend” and “good landlord” who “gave people chances that didn’t need chances.”
“We can’t see him doing any harm to his son because his son meant everything to him,” she told us.
Meanwhile, McArdle stated, “I don’t believe it to save my soul. “He would never, ever harm his own child.”
