FOUNTAIN, Colo. — The deaths of a man and toddler found inside a home following a six-hour standoff in Colorado are being investigated as a murder-suicide and a woman wounded while trying to escape was fighting for her life Tuesday, authorities said. UPDATE: The Colorado Springs Gazette has released updated details and information about the identities of the victims in Fountain, Colorado suburban neighborhood standoff. According to the Fountain police report, the shooter has been identified as Gammall Perez. Perez doused the home in gasoline, shot his girlfriend Shannon Paolini, leaving her in critical condition today, killed their young son Gavin before he finally committed suicide after a six-hour standoff on Monday. Several bullet holes were found in a residence five houses down from where the murder-suicide took place, investigators found. There was so much gasoline in the home that authorities brought in fans to air-out Paolini’s house, The Gazette reports. Paolini and Perez were the biological parents of Gavin although the two were not married, The Gazette goes on to report. Paolini owned the house and served as a financial services specialist with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office since August 2007. According to Perez’s Facebook page, he worked at RGIS, an inventory services solution provider, attended Fountain-Fort Carson High School and attended Michigan State University. Fountain Police Chief Todd Evans, in a statement made to The Colorado Springs Gazette, said that the home was an “ugly, ugly scene.” EARLIER: Officers found the bodies Monday night in the home in Fountain, just south of Colorado Springs, after trying unsuccessfully to contact the man. Fountain Police Chief Todd Evans said the house had been doused with gasoline, according to The Gazette. Authorities haven’t identified the two found dead, but Evans described them as a family. Authorities are waiting for autopsy results on how they died. The woman wounded before the man barricaded himself in his home was identified as Shannon Paolini. She has worked as financial services specialist at the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office since August 2007, sheriff’s officials said. Paolini is in critical condition and fighting for her life, Sheriff Terry Maketa said. The sheriff’s office plans to start a fund to help her and her family. The standoff began after police responded to the report of a disturbance at the house around 2:30 p.m. Monday. Two officers found an armed man at the house and retreated to coordinate a response with other officers who had responded, witnesses and Evans told The Gazette. Neighbor Tiffany LaGuardia told the Colorado Springs newspaper that a woman ran out of the house, was shot and then collapsed as she tried getting into a pickup. The man went back inside the home. A neighbor held the woman’s head until paramedics arrived. “She came out screaming and yelling for help,” LaGuardia said. “He came out shooting her. He came chasing her down, gunned her down.” Police Cmdr. Mike Haley said there was a second report of shots fired shortly after the woman was wounded. Police tried unsuccessfully to contact the man on the phone and public address system for several hours before a SWAT team entered the home and found the bodies.
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on May 20, 2011. Filed under News.
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Posted by
on May 20, 2011. Filed under