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Police: Off-Duty Cop Kills Wife, Self In Queens

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- In a shocking scene in Queens on Wednesday evening, an off-duty NYPD officer allegedly shot and killed his wife before turning the gun on himself.

As CBS 2's Alice Gainer reported, the terrifying rampage began outside a neighbor's home on Camden Avenue in the St. Albans section of Queens. Police arrived there at 7:45 p.m., following a call of a woman shot.

The 46-year-old woman, who works for the NYPD as a school safety agent, was pronounced dead at Queens General Hospital after suffering multiple gunshot wounds, police said.

Afterward, police said they found the 33-year-old officer inside the couple's home, a short distance away on Camden Avenue, with a gunshot wound. He was later pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

As of 11 p.m., investigators were going in and out of the home, which was surrounded by emergency vehicles.

A neighbor described what she heard.

"I just heard, like, about four big booms, and I went to the back and I didn't see anything, and about 10 minutes later, I saw about four police trucks come in, and she said she heard smoke – this is my friend just coming back to the store. She said she smelled smoke, and she heard big, four booms," the woman said.

Police said the weapon used was a shotgun, and not the officer's department-issued weapon.

The off-duty officer was an eight-year veteran of the NYPD.

The officer and his wife's names were not immediately released.

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