Norristown Times Herald | By Gordon Glantz
NORRISTOWN — Authorities are investigating what appears to be the first murders in Norristown since last summer after a man and a woman, described as African Americans in their mid-twenties to early thirties, were found dead of gunshot wounds Sunday afternoon, according to Norristown Chief of Police Russell J. Bono.
Bono confirmed that when the two victims were found “laying on their backs” in a second-floor room, described as a “one-room rental unit” on the 1200 block of Arch Street, the initial thought was that it was a murder-suicide. The ensuing investigation, according to Bono, has yielded enough clues to suggest the victims likely died at the hands of another.
“It doesn’t appear to be a murder-suicide,” said Bono. “We initially thought it was, but that does not appear to be the case. We are treating this as a double-murder.
“You never know for sure, but right now, it doesn’t look like it. Instead, we are looking at our first murder since, I think, last August. That’s a pretty significant stretch of time, but I was really hoping to get through the year without one.” Police responded to an unresponsive subject call at the scene at about 4:15 p.m. Sunday. At least seven police cars and two ambulances were on the scene Sunday afternoon.
Bono said it was unclear if the victims were longtime residents of the neighborhood.
“That’s one of the things we don’t know yet,” he said. “But we are canvassing the area and interviewing neighbors.
There are no eyewitnesses, at least none that we know of for sure.”
Norristown police and Montgomery County Detectives will join forces in the investigation that Bono said was too early, as of Sunday, to determine a motive.
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