Guyanese man shoots girlfriend, turns gun on self in Brooklyn
A father of four and his 23-year-old girlfriend were found dead with gunshot wounds to their bodies in their Brooklyn, New York home on Sunday afternoon. The Police are treating the incident as a murder-suicide.
US law enforcement officers believe that Christopher Pickering, 37, shot Elizabeth Thompkins in the head, in their Central Avenue home near Hancock Street in Bushwick, and then turned the gun on himself.
A relative found the bloody scene about 17:00h with a .9mm pistol resting on Pickering’s chest. Neighbours described the two as a quiet, seemingly happy couple.
Pickering had three sons – one of them newly-born – and a daughter, and worked at a waste-management company. He reportedly migrated to the US a number of years ago.
Christopher Pickering and Elizabeth Thompkins in happier times
A neighbour, who asked to remain anonymous, was quoted by New York Daily News as saying: “He loved those kids so much. That’s really what I remember about him. He was always with them… I just don’t think he could have done something like this. It does not even seem real.”
Another neighbour, who identified herself as Latoya, told the US newspapers that she rarely saw Thompkins, but she was typically quiet.
“You never heard them yelling and screaming. This is unbelievable,” Latoya said. “I can’t remember the last time I saw her, but she was very quiet like him. I never really spoke with her; it was mostly Chris who would say hi.”
