Nerissa Lee, Berwyn assistant principal and her mother shot dead by her husband, Steven T. Lee in murder suicide amid marriage issues outside Lincoln middle school in Illinois.
An assistant principal and her mother were shot dead outside her suburban Chicago middle school by her husband, who then turned the murder weapon on himself after shooting at cops.
Nerissa Lee, 46, and her 76-year-old mother were killed at the end of the school day Tuesday while sitting in a car outside Lincoln Middle School in Berwyn, a few miles from Chicago, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Berwyn shooting led to 20 gunshots
Lee’s husband, Steven T. Lee, pulled up beside the mother and daughter, ramming into their car before shooting both of them with a rifle, cops said.
The husband then fired at responding police officers before shooting himself in the head, police said. At no point did cops who took cover, return fire, the Berwyn Police Department said.
A witness reported hearing almost two dozen gunshots.
‘It was really like 20 times … very noisy, so they made me come to the front. When I came over here, I see by the corner — right there — police,’ Maria Meriz, who lives next to the school, told NBC 5.
Lee’s sister said the alleged murder-suicide ‘didn’t come out of the blue,’ and that the married couple’s relationship had deteriorated since ‘the tail end of June.’
‘And basically the boiling point would have been [Tuesday],’ Shana Everage told NBC 5.
‘It’s a horrible thing… I have a lot of emotions. I don’t quite know what to feel,’ Everage said.
Berwyn assistant principal remembered
The educator had a personality that ‘a lot of teachers don’t have now,’ a former student, Hailey Bedoy, 16, told the Chicago Sun-Times.
‘She always had a bubbly personality. She was very invested in her students,’ Bedoy said. ‘She accomplished a lot, she lived her life and she was a really great human being. And that’s how she should be remembered.’
Classes were due to resume on Thursday with counselors on-site, the school district said in a statement announcing Lee’s death.
‘It is with great sadness that I announce to you that Nerissa Lee, Assistant Principal at Lincoln Middle School, lost her life in [Tuesday’s] tragic shooting that occurred outside of Lincoln,’ stated Superintendent Dr. Michelle Smith.
‘The impact of this loss is deeply felt not only within the school community but throughout Berwyn. Assistant Principal Lee was a dedicated educator and leader who touched the lives of countless students and staff members,’ Berwyn Police Department said in a statement on Wednesday.
