Barricade situation ends with woman, gunman dead in New Castle County

NEW CASTLE COUNTY, Delaware (WPVI) -- Police in New Castle County are investigating a shooting that took place Thursday morning inside a home in the Newark Oaks community.

The suspect shot a 31-year-old woman and a 34-year-old man. The woman later died.

Police say the suspect exchanged gunfire with responding officers before shooting himself.

Officials said this appears to be a murder-suicide, however, they haven't been able to confirm that yet.

Police in New Castle County say they received a call just after midnight from a 34-year-old man who had just been shot alongside a 31-year-old woman.

The two were inside a home on the unit block of Leader Drive in the Newark Oaks community, when another 34-year-old man opened fire on both of them.

When police got to the scene, they called for backup to reason with the gunman inside. They could see the suspect brandishing a handgun through the window.

"Our crisis negotiation team was out there, they tried to make multiple phone calls to the suspect, over 200 I believe. And then our SWAT team also used a PA system to try and reach him, to get some type of communication started, but we never got to that point," said Michael McNasby, the public information officer with New Castle County police.

There was an exchange of gunfire between an officer and the man. Police are trying to figure out if the man was struck during the exchange.

The officer was uninjured after the shooting.

"There was one of our officers that fired at the suspect when they first had that initial encounter with the ground floor window. It's unknown still if that officer actually hit the suspect," said McNasby.

Once crews got inside the home, they found the woman dead. Police took the 34-year-old victim to a local hospital in stable condition.

The suspect was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Police say it was an intense scene.

"Extremely dangerous, it's very helpful though with our SWAT team being what they are and the amount of training they do and how they're prepared for these situations," said McNasby.

SWAT officers found the gunman dead inside the house with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Police are asking that if the public has any information to please contact them as they are continuing this investigation.