Vaughn Stewart, Maplewood, N.J man shoots & kills estranged wife, Deonna Stewart and her parents, Allan and Michelle Russell before killing self. Shooter spared the couple’s three children who had moved out of the family home after incidents of domestic violence.
A Maplewood, N.J man shot and killed the mother of his three children and her parents in Berkeley Township before turning the murder weapon on himself.
Police responded to reports of shots fired at a home on Tuesday March 10, around 5 a.m., where responding officers spotted a man entering the home and hearing more gunfire inside, investigators said.
The Ocean County Regional SWAT Team then entered the house and spotted the bodies of the homeowners, 61-year-old Allan Russell and his wife, 60-year-old Michelle Russell. They were both suffering from gunshot wounds to the head according to a release from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
Shooter gunman found with self-inflicted gunshot wound after killing estranged wife and Berkeley parents
The officers then found three children who were unharmed. After clearing the home, the officers found a man, later identified as 37-year-old Vaughn Stewart of Maplewood, suffering from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head. He was taken to the Community Medical Center in Toms River where he was eventually pronounced dead.
As the officers continued to investigate, they discovered multiple shell casings and the body of a third victim, 38-year-old Deonna Stewart, about 50 yards from the home on the side of Fairwood Drive. The victim who had been running for her life was gunned down the street as she fled. Authorities described her as the shooter’s estranged wife the Asbury Park Press reported.
Estranged wife had moved out of Maplewood home after domestic violence
Investigators determined Deonna Stewart lived at Fairwood Drive with her three children and her parents, Allan Russell and Michelle Russell. Vaughn Stewart was the father of Deonna Stewart’s children and the two had been living separately, officials said.
Neighbors discussing the tragedy with press, described the Allan and Michelle Russell as churchgoers who often checked in with their neighbors and had recently taken in their daughter who had become a victim of domestic violence at the hands of her estranged husband.
