Home Scandal and Gossip Westmoreland murder-suicide: Dad shoots wife, two young kids dead, then self

Westmoreland murder-suicide: Dad shoots wife, two young kids dead, then self

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Westmoreland County murder-suicide: Paul Swarner, PA man shoots wife, Karen Swarner, two young kids dead, then self.
Westmoreland County murder-suicide: Paul Swarner, Pennsylvania man shoots wife, Karen Swarner, two young kids dead, then self. No known motive.
Westmoreland County murder-suicide: Paul Swarner, PA man shoots wife, Karen Swarner, two young kids dead, then self.
Westmoreland County murder-suicide: Paul Swarner, Pennsylvania man shoots wife, Karen Swarner, two young kids dead, then self. No known motive.

Westmoreland murder-suicide: Paul Swarner, Hempfield Township, Pennsylvania man shoots wife, Karen Swarner, two young kids dead, then self as authorities search for motive. 

Why…? A Pennsylvania father is thought to have shot and killed his wife, their two young children before turning the murder weapon on himself at the family’s home in Westmoreland County at some point last week.

Paul Swarner, 35, is alleged to have shot dead his wife, Karen Swarner, 32, the couple’s two children, 5-year-old Evelyn and 1-year-old Connor, before taking his own life in an apparent murder-suicide.

Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Steve Limani during a Friday press conference said a family member last talked to Karen Swarner on Wednesday afternoon and ‘for all intents and purposes’ it appeared to be a ‘normal conversation.’ But on Thursday afternoon, no one was able to reach the couple. Around 11:30 p.m. Thursday, Karen Swarner’s father called 911, Limani said.  

All American family … but what went wrong? 

It wasn’t until early Friday morning during a welfare check that troopers came across the macabre scene of the family’s bodies and a recovered a Ruger .22 handgun at the family’s Hempfield Township home, the Daily Voice reported. 

To date authorities have yet to say what may have motivated the husband-father.

‘We’re going to do everything we can to get answers to the family but I’m sure right now that answers aren’t going to be sufficient for what they’re going through,’ Limani told the outlet.

The couple had been married for 10 years, with Limani describing the husband and wife as an all ‘American family.’ The official said there had been no previous domestic violence calls involving state police. 

‘They seem like they had very successful jobs,’ Limani told reporters. ‘Their home was the all-American home. There were toys for the children.

‘It looked like a very loving household with pictures and all the things that you would ever think that you would walk into a home and see,’ he continued, before calling the crime ‘unthinkable’ and ‘unfathomable.’

Westmoreland County murder-suicide: Paul Swarner, PA man shoots wife, Karen Swarner, two young kids dead, then self.
Paul Swarner, Hempfield Township, PA man shoots wife, Karen, two kids, then self in murder-suicide.

Search warrant issued at family home

‘It’s unthinkable, unfathomable,’ Limani told the outlet. ‘To be honest with you, I don’t have the words to describe how awful it is. I mean, you’re talking about your wife, but then a 5-year-old and a 1-year-old? It’s just devastating.’

Responding to the crime which has shocked family and locals, one family friend told Trib Live that Karen ‘was always jovial’ and they both seemed like ‘loving parents.’

State police have since served a search warrant on the family’s home and are ‘going through all of their electronic information’ in an effort to determine a motive.

If anyone has any information that may help investigators piece together what happened, they’re asked to call the Greensburg barracks at 724-832-3288. 

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