Community Reeling After Apparent Triple Murder-Suicide
SHALER (KDKA) -- A community in the North Hills is trying to make sense of an apparent triple murder-suicide.
The killings happened at 404 Beulah Street in Shaler. The family had just moved to the home several weeks ago from Ross Township.
"Shock, everybody's in shock," Rose Williams, a neighbor, said. "Nobody slept last night – we were up until five o'clock this morning. It's just unbelievable – they move in, they're dead and they're gone – it's like unreal."
Neighbors say the shooting happened around 10:30 p.m. Sunday.
Nick Skalos, a neighbor, said he was sitting on his porch when he heard an argument.
"Then I heard a couple gunshots go off and neighbors over there called 911, police and ambulance came rushing by my house," he said.
Barry Hardesty, 43, was the father and apparent shooter. The mother, 38-year-old Lynette Gasparre, and two children, 7-year-old Quinn and 1-year-old Nina, were all killed.
"They 8-year-old girl was in the hallway leading back to the bedrooms," Shaler Police Chief Jeff Gally said. "The mother and the infant were in the bed and the father was on the floor alongside the bed."
It appears that the mother may have died trying to protect the baby.
"She was on top of the baby," Gally said.
Neighbors say the family looked happy and normal on Sunday afternoon, throwing around a football in the yard. Nina was in a pool and Quinn was on her bicycle.
Jami Skalos, a friend of Quinn, left a note for her in the front yard saying she'd miss her.
"Well, I didn't go to school and I'm upset and nervous and I don't know what was going on – I was confused at first," she said.
Jami's father told KDKA-TV he doesn't know how to explain the tragedy to his daughter.
Both of the deceased adults worked at Highmark in downtown Pittsburgh where counselors were made available for fellow co-workers.
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