In a Western New York tragedy just four days before Christmas, 53-year old Penelope Luddy sent her husband out on an errand, then used a 12-guage shotgun to shoot her 79-year old father, ten-year old daughter, then herself, according to police and local news reports. Luddy, who lived in the small town of Perinton, near Rochester, New York, apparently died at the scene, but her father, Harold Bertram, and daughter, Alexandra, died at the hospital.
“Deputies say around 8:30 a.m. Luddy sent her husband to check on the wellbeing of a family member. When he returned to the home shortly before 10 a.m. he saw what had happened,” WHEC reports, which adds that “Monroe County Sheriff’s Deputies say that 53-year-old Penelope Luddy was distraught.”
Another local news station, WHAM, reports that Penelope Luddy’s father, Harold Bertram, “was apparently conscious enough to explain to deputies and medics some of what happened. Bertram was also pronounced dead shortly after his arrival at Strong Memorial Hospital.”
NPR adds:
Both Bertram and the girl had been shot twice. There were signs of a struggle in the basement, where Bertram had been living for some years, investigators said.
His injuries “were very severe, so he was very limited in the amount (of information) he could provide to us” at the home and in an ambulance, said sheriff’s Lt. Michael Fowler. Penelope Luddy did not leave a note.
Bertram told deputies that “she had shot both the daughter and him prior to taking her life,” [Monroe County Sheriff Patrick] O’Flynn said.
Our thoughts are with the Luddy and Bertram families, and all the people of Perinton tonight.
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