The Cobb County Police Department is investigating a double fatality that occurred Saturday morning south of Marietta as a murder-suicide.
Police received a 911 call at about 9:25 a.m. reporting shorts fired in the 1900 block of Olive Springs Road, according to a news release. Officers found 19-year-old Eduardo Landaverde and 19-year-old Crystal Mendez dead near the front yard, with injuries consistent with gunshot wounds, police said. A handgun lay close to Landaverde, police said.
“This incident appears to have stemmed from a domestic dispute,” police said in the release.
Anyone with information should contact detectives at 770-499-3945.
Frederick Hughes, a neighbor who called 911, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he was unloading a truck in his driveway when he heard a popping sound. He said he thought it could be a firecracker.
“But then I saw this woman run out and she’s hollering something, and he point-blank shoots her two more times,” Hughes said.
Hughes said Mendez fell in the driveway behind a car, where emergency medical personnel tried unsuccessfully to revive her. He said police later told him that Landaverde was dead in the bushes.
Hughes said he lives about 3 miles away but was fixing up a house for his daughter to live in. He said he knew the previous owners of the house, but not the neighbors.
“Normally it’s pretty quiet,” he said.
Freelance photojournalist Ben Hendren contributed to this article.
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