2 Dead In Shooting At Santa Rosa Home: Police

SANTA ROSA, CA — A man and a woman died Tuesday night in Santa Rosa in what police said was being investigated as a murder-suicide.

Officers were sent just after 6:15 p.m. Tuesday to a report that a woman had been shot at a home on Whitewood Drive in the Roseland area, Santa Rosa police Lt. Jeneane Kucker said in a news release.

"The reporting party believed the suspect, who also lived on the property, shot the victim during an argument," Kucker said. "Upon arrival, officers were met in the driveway of the residence by two children who told them the victim was to the rear of the residence."

Officers found the victim lying in the backyard near a shed, suffering from a single gunshot wound.

It was not clear whether the suspect in the shooting was still on the property, so patrol officers brought her to the front of the home where she could be taken by ambulance to a hospital.

She was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Meanwhile, the Santa Rosa Police Department's SWAT and Hostage Negotiations teams tried to make contact with the suspect.

SRPD drone pilots did a search of the property, and with the assistance of the Petaluma Police Department’s SWAT team, a Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety K-9 team and the Sonoma County sheriff's Henry-1 helicopter crew, the suspect was found on the property — deceased.

"The suspect, a 31-year-old white male, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head," Kucker said.

Detectives and crime scene technicians were at the scene as of midnight when the investigation was still in its early stages, Kucker said.

"The victim and suspect's name are being withheld at this time due to the continuing investigation and pending notification of family members," Kucker said.

Anyone who has additional information regarding the incident is encouraged to call SRPD's Violent Crimes Investigations Team at 707-543-3590.