Girl’s Call Alerts Police to Murder-Suicide

A 4-year-old girl called 911 from her home to report that her mother and two other adults had been shot, then gave police enough information to lead them to the suspected assailant--her father, authorities reported Monday.

The mother, Suzanne Boucher, 30, died at the scene and her former boyfriend, Paul Arthur Uglow, 30, was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound at his own residence, where he had fled, said Riverside Police Sgt. Bob Hanson.

The Sunday night shooting, which Hanson characterized as a murder-suicide, also left Boucher’s sister, Sandra M. Martillo, and a friend, Jerry Carl Alexander, seriously injured from gunshots, Hanson said. Along with the 4-year-old, two younger children at the home also escaped injury.

The shooting was apparently prompted by a long-running domestic dispute, Hanson said.

Martillo picked up a phone to call 911 and heard her 4-year-old niece already talking to a dispatcher, Hanson said. Because she was injured, Martillo got off the phone but relayed through the youngster enough information about Uglow to lead police to his residence, Hanson said.