Portage Police say a child found both of her parents shot when returning home on Tuesday.
At approximately 2:52 p.m. officers of the Portage Police Department responded to the 5900 block of Marbella Avenue in response to a 911 call from a female juvenile reporting that she returned home to find her mother and father had been injured and were possibly deceased.
Upon officers’ arrival, a forty-five year old female victim was found inside near the front of the home. The female had suffered an apparent gunshot wound and was deceased. A fifty-four year old male was found in another part of the home, alive but unconscious. This male appeared to have sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The male was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injury. A firearm was recovered from the scene.
Portage Police Department detectives and crime scene investigators also responded to the scene. CSI continues to process the scene as of 7:00 p.m. The initial investigation points to this being an incident of murder / suicide. The deceased were husband and wife and it initially appears the male shot the female before turning the gun on himself.
Police say this preliminary overview of the incident is subject to change and a final determination will not be reached until the crime scene has been fully processed and the autopsies completed, which are scheduled for Wednesday morning.
The Indiana Department of Child Services assisted in finding temporary housing and care for the juvenile until other family can be contacted and final arrangements secured.
The names of the deceased are being withheld pending notification of the next of kin by the Porter County Coroner’s Office.