Associated Press
WINDSOR, Calif. (AP) - An elderly man shot and killed his teen-age grandson before taking his own life Sunday, according to Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department officials.
Windsor police and the sheriff’s department evacuated several residents from Royal Manor Mobile Home Park shortly after a call near noon from Carl Donahoe, 71, who said he had shot and killed his 19-year-old grandson Jessie Brady and intended to kill himself, according to Chief Dave Sederholm.
Police then spent nearly four hours outside the doublewide trailer negotiating with Donahoe for his surrender until they heard a gunshot.
Police threw a “flash-bang” device into the home and entered it. They found the bodies of both men in an apparent murder-suicide, Sederholm said in a statement. He added that the devices likely were what caused the trailer to then catch fire. Flames quickly were doused by firefighters.
Lt. Matt McCaffrey said Donahoe’s wife was at a nearby casino at the time. The sheriff’s department attempted to fly her to the scene in a helicopter to assist in negotiations for her husband’s surrender. She was about 10 minutes away when Donahoe killed himself, McCaffrey said.
Police are unsure what caused the disturbance, but say they had not been called to the residence before.
Neighbors told authorities the elderly couple was very friendly, but that there had been some problems between Carl Donahoe and the grandson in recent weeks. The grandson had not been living there very long, McCaffrey said.