Police are investigating the deaths of two elderly sisters in Georgia on Sunday, Sept. 19, with evidence currently leading authorities to believe it was a murder-suicide.
The Chatham County Police Department said in a statement this week on social media that officers responded to the sisters’ home around 5:30 p.m. local time on Sunday, discovering the two women dead from “apparent gunshot wounds.”
“Witnesses on the scene said the deceased women were sisters,” the police statement said. “Witnesses said one sister entered the home, and shot the other sister before turning the gun on herself.”
The Chatham County Police statement said investigators are currently waiting to receive the results of an autopsy report on the two sisters and that “the investigation is active and ongoing.”
Local WJCL and the Savannah Morning Newsreported that the Chatham County Coroner’s Office has identified the two women as 71-year-old Deborah Hudson and 70-year-old Deloris Hooker.
Neighbors told local WTOC that the sisters’ 98-year-old father, who the sisters were taking care of at the house, was inside the home during the shooting and that there were “ongoing issues” between the siblings for years.
WTOC reported that witnesses say Hooker, the younger sister, had recently become homeless and was trying to convince Hudson and their father to allow her to live in the house with them. Neighbors told the outlet that Hooker broke into the house through the backdoor and shot Hudson in the chest before turning the gun on herself.
