Husband, wife, 2 sons dead in Beaver County murder-suicide, police say

NORTH SEWICKLEY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — There are still a lot of questions to answer in Beaver County, but police do believe this was a murder-suicide with the oldest son pulling the trigger and the youngest son making the 911 call from inside the home.

“The family, all of them, were avid hunters and in my conversations with them, hunting always comes up. I knew they had a lot of firearms in the house,” said North Sewickley Township Police Chief Jeff Becze.

That family is now gone in what Becze is calling a tragedy.

“We can’t conclusively determine but it does appear it was a murder and a suicide,” said Beaver County DA Nate Bible.

Police believe Clifford Hunt Jr, 19 shot his father Clifford, 51, mother Michelle, 48, and his 16-year-old brother all in the head before turning the gun on himself.

“Pure shock, it kind of seems unbelievable that something like this could even happen in an area like ours, it’s so quiet it’s so relaxed and to hear of any loss in the community is horrible,” said Autumn Ashurst.

Ashurst is heartbroken knowing that she had just seen Michelle hours before her death at that exact house. Their friendship blossomed over their love for farm animals. Ashurst was delivering her a new family of ducks.

“Oh, she was over the moon about getting ducks. She had a whole spot set up for them wanted me to bring them in and said they were ready, and the geese and turkey were checking them out. She was very happy and very excited,” Ashurst said.

Now this small community is heartbroken and already stepping up to honor the victims with a vigil on Thursday at 8 p.m. at Giant Eagle in Ellwood City.

“It’s not only one tragedy but it’s four all at the same time and I can’t imagine how many lives are ruined over this it’s insane,” Ashurst said.

Channel 11 is told the 16-year-old teen who was a beloved member of his school community, a junior at Riverside High School. He had dreams of joining the Air Force upon graduation.

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