Santee
A Santee woman and her 2-year-old daughter were killed Sunday night, apparently by the woman’s estranged husband, who then turned the gun on himself, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said.
The bodies of Sherry Lucern Battaglia, 41; Kelly Renee Battaglia, 2, and Joseph Frances Battaglia, 32, were found at 6:55 p.m. by Sherry Battaglia’s family, authorities said.
Sherry’s father, mother and sisters went to the apartment in the 9400 block of Lake Canyon Road to take her and Kelly to dinner for Sherry’s birthday. When no one answered the door, Irving Knight, Sherry Battaglia’s father, climbed through a window in the back of the house and found the bodies in the bedroom, sheriff’s deputies said.
The mother and daughter were found in bed. Joseph Battaglia was on the bedroom floor with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot to the head. A .38-caliber pistol was found nearby, Sheriff’s Sgt. Manuel Castillo said.
Joseph and Sherry Battaglia had been separated for several months, Castillo said, but authorities are unsure what led to the shooting.
“The whys and why nots, we may never know,” Castillo said.
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