A feud between a woman and her mother led to a shootout that ended in their deaths and the killing of two other family members in rural Pennsylvania, according to a relative.
State police said a man called police late Friday to say that he had shot two intruders who had killed his wife and son at their home near Altoona.
A relative, Virginia Cruse, said the initial victims were her 64-year-old sister Roberta Frew and Frew’s 47-year-old son, Ed, The Associated Press reported. Cruse said Frew’s husband, John Frew, then killed the assailants, whom she identified as Frew’s daughter, Josephine, and her husband, Jeff Ruckinger, the AP reported.
Cruse said Josephine Frew had “a hatred toward the family” after they disowned her over a theft and vandalism at their home.
Authorities didn’t officially identify the victims. State police said the older woman’s body was found by the front door and her son’s in the kitchen, the Altoona Mirror reported. The male intruder was found dead in the kitchen. The female intruder was still alive in the living room when police arrived but died later at a hospital, the Mirror said.
The incident occurred in Ashville, about 10 miles northwest of Altoona.
