Gwinnett County police are investigating after a woman fatally shot her teenage son and then shot and killed herself in a neighborhood north of Loganville on Thursday morning.
Officers were called to the home on Bay Crest Court in the neighborhood off Ozora Road just before 9 a.m. They found Nicole Strother, 52, and her 15-year-old son, Alexander Postell, in a bedroom with gunshot wounds, police said. Strother had died and Postell was taken to a hospital, where he died shortly after.
Another woman called police when she awoke after hearing a gunshot, stepped out of a bedroom and found her mother dead and brother suffering from the gunshot wound, police spokesman Cpl. Ryan Winderweedle told reporters.
Police have not determined a motive for the shooting. There is no history of police calls at the location, and no other people were in the home at the time, authorities confirmed.
Credit: John Spink
Credit: John Spink
A neighbor, Malika David, said she hadn’t seen any suspicious behavior at the home and that the family was mostly quiet.
“I remember like one time there was a ... my mom, we had a package over at their house and she was such like a kind neighbor that she dropped it off for us at our house,” she said.
David said she hadn’t heard any gunshots, but her own mother started screaming when they saw the homicide tape and first responders.
“It’s a very, very quiet neighborhood, like very quiet,” she said. “We have neighborhood gatherings every now and then thanks to the HOA president. So yeah, this is just a big shocker and just super devastating for everyone here.”
Added David, “It’s such a tragic thing. I mean, honestly, I love how in the culture now mental health is such a really big discussion. And I guess it’s just a really friendly reminder to just please check on your neighbors, check on your loved ones, because (you) really never know what someone’s going through.”
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