"Just separated" dad shoots to death wife, 5-year-old son (Livingston Parish, Louisiana)

Dad JOSEPH S. SHAFFETT has shot to death his wife and 5-year-old son. The couple had just separated, which once again shows how volatile and dangerous abusers can be when a victim finally leaves and tries to reclaim her life. MUCH MORE needs to be done to provide real security and protection for victims of domestic violence at this time. Otherwise, the carnage will just continue as it has.

Hat tip to Annie.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/87547237.html?showAll=y&c=y

Family found dead in home

By BOB ANDERSON
Advocate Florida parishes bureau
Published: Mar 13, 2010 - Page: 1A
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LIVINGSTON — Deputies found three bodies in a rural home Friday afternoon after receiving a frantic 911 call from a relative of the family, the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office reported.

A young boy, his mother and his father had been shot to death in what investigators believe to have been a double murder and suicide, Chief Deputy Jason Ard said.

The child’s grandmother stopped a school bus carrying another sibling before the bus arrived at the home, said B.J. Wheat, a friend of the family who was at the scene.

The grandmother received a phone call from her son-in-law saying he had just killed his son and wife, from whom he was separated, Wheat said.

Ard identified the bodies as those of Reese Shaffett, 5; Courtney Triche Shaffett, 33; and Joseph S. Shaffett, 39.

Ard said that shortly before 3 p.m., officials received a call from a relative who said Joseph Shaffett had called and said he had shot his wife and son and was going to shoot himself. Ard said he could not immediately identify the caller.

All of the bodies were found in the same room of the house, Ard said.

A 12-gauge shotgun and a .38- caliber pistol were found, and both had been fired, said Perry Rushing, chief of operations for the Sheriff’s Office.

Other than police crime-scene tape and officers standing near the front steps, the house nestled next to a wooded area had a serene setting.

A swing set, a trampoline and a basketball goal stood unused, while the family pet whined as it lay near its doghouse.

Gradually, family members and friends began to gather at the site, which sits apart from any nearby residences.

The scene of the shootings is near a park on King George Bay Road off La. 444 between French Settlement and Livingston.

“Words can’t describe the feeling that we are going through right now as investigators,” Ard said shortly after the bodies were removed from the house at 5:40 p.m. “You can see it on the faces of the investigators and the family.”

A complete investigation, including autopsies, will be conducted, but it appears that Joseph Shaffett shot his wife and son and then himself, Ard said.

He said the Sheriff’s Office is working closely with the Livingston Parish Coroner’s Office, which pronounced the three people dead at the scene.