TABERNACLE, N.J. (AP) — A New
Jersey mother shot all three of her children, killing two of them,
before turning the gun on herself, state police said Friday.
Their
announcement confirmed what officials had hinted at, but not spelled
out, after a relative's horrific discovery of the family, all found
wounded in the same bed, on Thursday morning.
State
police Capt. Stephen Jones said there is more investigating to be done
in the case of 44-year-old Jeannine LePage, but authorities wanted to
share what they know so far "to allay any fears" about a killer on the
loose in Tabernacle, a town in the New Jersey Pinelands that's 30 miles
east of Philadelphia.
State police Detective Geoff Noble said
LePage used a handgun that had been purchased legally and was in the
family for decades. He said she used a pillow to muffle any noise so the
five other relatives who lived with them wouldn't hear the
murder-suicide attempt.Authorities have not said what prompted the mother to shoot her children. "We may never know with certainty, depending on the condition of LePage, what that motive was," Jones said. "That's something we're not prepared to address right now."
Fourteen-year-old
Nicholas Harriman and 8-year-old Nadia were killed. Their 11-year-old
brother, Alexander, was wounded. Like his mother, he was at Cooper
University Hospital in Camden. Officials described them both as being in
"extremely critical condition," suggesting that they are not expected
to survive.
The family's next-door neighbor, Jeanne Snedeker, was upset by the shooting, particularly Nadia's death.
"It's
hard for me when I sit in my sunroom and look out my window," Snedeker
said Friday. "I can picture her running by and waving."
Snedeker
said the girl was outgoing and always smiling. She said she did not
know their mother well. She did recall a conversation they had in the
past year or so about their mutual interest in rescuing animals.
About 200 people attended a candlelight vigil for the family Thursday night in Tabernacle.