Boy, 11, Finds Parents Shot Dead In Area Murder-Suicide

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

W. Clinton Ave.
Photo Credit: *Robyn Urman*

Jerry DeMarco

03/19/2016 6:38 p.m.

Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal said he was temporarily withholding identities 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, 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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