Mother & Grandmother Both Shot To Death During Home Invasion While Young Child Was Inside

A “calm” neighborhood in New Jersey has been struck by an unexpected tragedy. Two women, who neighbors described as “quiet,” were allegedly shot dead by an intruder. Upon investigating the incident, police believe the intrusion wasn’t random, but don’t see any cause for concern for the already worried neighbors.

As if the killing of the two women, who were mother and daughter, wasn’t enough, the younger woman was a mother herself, and neighbors believe her young child was in the home.

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The incident started as a burglary.

Police went to a home in Willingboro, New Jersey, on a call about a burglary in progress around 4 a.m., according to Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, as reported by ABC 6. When the police arrived at the home, they found two women, 33-year-old Catherine Nunez and her mother, 54-year-old Marisol Nunez, shot in an upstairs bedroom. Authorities pronounced the two women dead on the scene.

Police don't believe the incident was random.

NBC 10 Philadelphia reported that investigators discovered that the intruder entered the home through a first floor window. The intruder fled before the police arrived, according to prosecutors. They believe that the intrusion wasn’t random, but don’t believe that anyone else in the neighborhood is in jeopardy. Autopsies performed on the women show that they died from the gunshot wounds.

There was reportedly a child in the house.

the top of a police car, with the siren lights on
RichLegg/iStock

Neighbors told NBC 10 that Catherine Nunez had a young son who was also in the house at the time of the crime. “We found out that the baby was underneath the bed while his mom got killed and the grandmom was already gone,” neighbor Charlee Harris said. “He would be outside riding his bike, playing,” Harris told ABC 6.

The women had lived in the home for a few years.

Nunez and her family had moved to the neighborhood from New York City about two years ago. Neighbor Royston Evans told NBC 10 that the women were “very quiet.”

“She keep to herself. But she do talk and she say hi,” Evans added. “Everybody’s in shock to know that this happened.”

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The neighborhood is grappling with the loss.

“I couldn’t even sleep last night,” Glenda Sprauve, the Nunez family’s next door neighbor, told ABC 6. “She was cool, a very nice person though. She was kind enough for me to break a tear or two and more and then some. I couldn’t even sleep last night,” Sprauve told NBC 10. “It hurts. It hurts. And I feel so bad for her son.” The neighbors were planning a prayer vigil outside of their home.