By Jim Hagerty
Reporter

SOUTH BELOIT — Two men are dead in what police say was a murder-suicide in South Beloit early Sunday.

The incident unfolded around midnight in the 2200 block of Blackhawk Road. That’s where officers with the South Beloit Police Department were dispatched after a woman reported that her 38-year-old husband had fired a gun and was threatening family members.

Police arrived on the scene at around 12:15 a.m., and began negotiating with the man in the front yard but the suspect went inside the house. Investigators say he then exited with a gun pointed to his head and fled into the woods behind the house and fired two shots. He then walked within view of police and shot himself in the head.

Officers later found the body of the gunman’s 64-year-old father inside a tent in the woods behind the house. He had been shot in the chest. They also located a second tent occupied by two children, who were unharmed.

South Beloit was assisted by the Rockton, Roscoe and Winnebago police departments.

The Rock River Times will have more on this story as it develops.