During a visit to their son’s grave almost every day since his passing in 2017, a Maryland couple was slain on their latest visit to the veterans cemetery in Delaware, where he lay.
Authorities are saying the May 8 murder at the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery was a random attack on Paul, 86, and Lidia Marino, 85. The couple’s surviving sons, twins Ray and Paul Jr., say the gunman shot their dad in the back of the head, and shot their mom, unclear of who was shot first.
As their mother died at the scene, just yards away from her son’s grave, their father, a U.S. Army Veteran, died at the hospital one day later.
Hours after the shooting, Middletown Police identified the gunman as 29-year-old Sheldon Francis. After a shootout with officers, Francis reportedly fled to a nearby wooded neighborhood, close to the cemetery.
As time passed, police finally discovered the gunman, whose lifeless body held a gunshot wound. Authorities say they’re unsure if the wound was self-inflicted or a direct result of the exchange of gunfire.
However, an investigation is ongoing to determine the motive and whether the suspect knew the victims.
