Husband, wife dead after barricade at home

A man shot his wife to death and wounded his sister-in-law Saturday, then went back inside a Northeast Memphis home and killed himself, police said.

Police are not yet releasing the names of the pair who died in a murder-suicide at a home in the 2300 block of Ptarmigan Cove, off Whitten Road.

The situation began about

11:40 a.m., according to MPD spokesman Louis Brownlee. A complainant told police he shot two people at the home and barricaded himself inside, Brownlee said.

Brownlee told reporters about 3 p.m. that a man shot his wife and sister-in-law as they tried to leave and then went back into the home and barricaded himself inside.

Police later confirmed the wife died and the man shot and killed himself inside the home. The sister-in-law was taken to the Regional Medical Center in noncritical condition.

"The two victims fled to a vehicle and as they were in the vehicle the suspect shot them," Brownlee said.

Negotiators were on the scene in the afternoon trying to make contact with the man, he said.

One street behind, officers stood in front of a home on Elmore Road armed with assault rifles.

Police blocked off neighboring Knollfield Drive but allowed neighbors to stay within the crime scene tape and stand on their lawns.

Several police cars, at least one ambulance and a fire truck were stationed between Knollfield and Morning Vista Drive.

Jennifer Mendez said she's lived in the neighborhood for five years, about four houses down from the home where the incident occurred. She said police came to her door and "told us to leave the premises because he had a gun."

Neighbors were forced to leave their lawns and stand behind the crime scene tape around 1:20 p.m. when an MPD tactical equipment vehicle drove onto the scene.

Mendez said she didn't know the name of the couple who lived there, but she had always had pleasant interactions with them and they were "really sweet."