Police Find Murder, Attempted Suicide After Responding To Gas Leak
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – An Allegheny County Police official said Wednesday night that nothing has been ruled out, but it appears a possible murder-attempted suicide was involved when police found a woman dead inside of a Stowe Township home.
A report of a natural gas leak brought police to the home in the 1500-block of Broadway Avenue between 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Inside the house, police say they found 21-year-old Elizabeth Cannon shot to death on the second floor and her 25-year-old boyfriend unconscious on the first floor.
He reportedly had been overcome by natural gas fumes.
Investigators say they believe it may have been a possible murder-attempted suicide.
"Even though they kept to themselves and you didn't know much about them, you kind of like to think that you know somebody just when you've met them a few times, and you wouldn't expect something like this," said Gary Gideon, a local resident.
Another man who had been living in the house made the first call to 911 when he came home and smelled gas.
"Another person who lives here came home and found the house in the condition in which it was reported. We do know that the girl was shot to death and there's not evidence that it was a suicide, so we can safely say that's a murder," Allegheny County Police Lt. Andrew Schurman said. "The young man who was overcome is expected to survive."
Investigators say there were no signs of forced entry and no ransacking had occurred.
A neighborhood resident who did not know the couple personally said unfortunately he was not surprised by what happened.
"The township has done a lot to improve, but the violence is just, it's getting out of hand around here," he said. "The streets have become unsafe."
After Stowe Township Police first determined that it was a crime scene, technicians from the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office and Allegheny County Police processed the area outside as they waited to get a search warrant before investigators could re-enter the home.
A Columbia Gas worker also checked for any unusually high gas levels in the neighborhood that may have resulted from the incident.
The names of the woman and the man were not being released Wednesday night.
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