ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – St. Johns County deputies said a man killed his wife Monday night before he was shot dead after pointing a gun at deputies.
Deputies initially responded to the home on Summerhill Circle about 9 p.m. after getting 911 call about a violent disturbance.
"A resident ran to a neighbors home requesting law enforcement assistance. When we arrived on scene, the two initial responding deputies were confronted by an armed [man] those deputies on scene did in fact engage that subject and he is deceased at the scene," said Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies said the suspect pointed a shotgun (pictured below in Sheriff's Office photo) at the officers, and that's when deputies shot and killed him.
Names of the victims
and the deputies involved have not been released.
"As we continue to investigate the initial reason, for why we were summoned here. We have found a second deceased individual inside the residence," said Mulligan.
Mulligan said the suspect killed his wife, who was later found dead inside the home. We do not yet know how the woman was killed and deputies are working to find out if the same shotgun was used.
According to deputies, the neighbor who called police was able to get the couple's children out of the home before the deputy-involved shooting. We do not yet know how many kids were inside the home at the time, but they were under the age of 18.
"What were dealing with is a serious tragedy," said Mulligan. "We have to keep those other occupants in our hearts and thoughts. As for suicide by cop, it's still early [in the investigation], but indications are there."
The neighbor explained the situation in a 911 call to St. Johns County dispatchers. Some of the encounter between the neighbor and the suspect was also recorded in the call.
Caller: "I don't know if they've shot themselves or what they've done. I have no idea she's got blood all over her hands."
911 operator: "Is there anything you can ask them?"
Caller: "Hey. What's going on man. The cops are coming man. Put that down."
911 operator: "What do they have?"
Caller: "He's got a gun. Put it down man!"
911 operator: "Who has a gun? Did he put it down?"
Caller: "The husband's got it. He's got it in his hands... Drop it man!"
911 operator: "Somebody's yelling."
Caller: "The cops are. He won't put it down."
911 operator: "Get everyone else inside your house. Tell that little girl to go inside."
Caller: "He's got his hands up. He's dead, he's dead."
911 operator: "Where's the little girl?"
Caller: "She's inside."
Caller: "That's her dad. Her dad came out and said I just killed her. He had a shotgun, I backed away. The cops pulled up. He raised it up. He had his hands up and then he aimed it at them and they shot him... I saw the whole thing. They didn't have a choice. He wouldn't put it down."
Because it's early in the investigation, Mulligan said it's too early to tell what exactly happened inside the home.
"We can speculate a lot of different directions right now, we don't do that... We wait for the facts to come forward and the facts in this case aren't known because we haven't gotten inside the residence with the search warrant," said Mulligan.
Mulligan said two officers were involved in the confrontation with the suspect.
"They'll be placed on administrative duty which is common procedure - that'll go on for several days depending on how things move forward and how the investigation proceeds," said Mulligan.
Deputies have roped off a perimeter around the home, awaiting a search warrant to enter the home to continue the investigation.
"In situation like this, it takes us multiple hours to receive the search warrant due to the late hours we have to contact the state attorney's office. We'll be working in conjunction with them. We also have to reach out to a judge to get the search warrant signed in order to go in and process the scene appropriately," said Mulligan.
There was another person who left the home, just before the deputy-involved shooting who called police. That person may be questioned by deputies to help with the investigation. We are not sure if it was one of the children.
"Some individuals who played a role we owe gratitude for protecting other people in house... This could have been much worse... We're thankful it wasn't," said Mulligan.
We have a crew on the scene gathering more information and we'll have live reports on The Morning Show. This article will be updated as more information becomes available.