Investigators have determined that an Aberdeen man fatally shot himself Tuesday morning in a domestic incident that also resulted in the death of his sister.
The Aberdeen Police Department said Friday it has ruled the deaths of Linda Ota, 56, of Hackensack, N.J., and Thomas Peterson, 55, of Aberdeen, a murder-suicide.
Ota died of her injuries on Wednesday at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center where she had been in critical condition since shortly after police found her and Peterson with gunshot wounds to the head in a home in the 300 block of Mount Royal Ave around 4:50 a.m. on Tuesday.
Police identified the two as brother and sister and said they were involved in a domestic related argument that led up to the shootings.
Cpl. Shannon Persuhn, a spokesperson for the Aberdeen Police Department, said notification of Ota's death was not relayed to her until Friday morning, following an autopsy at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore.
Investigators have determined that Peterson shot Ota in the head before turning the gun on himself, according to the police department's latest news release on the incident sent out Friday afternoon.
Detectives are still trying to establish a motive for the shooting, according to the news release.
Peterson was taken to Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, where he was pronounced dead at 7 a.m. Tuesday, according to the APD. His body also was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy.
Bruce Goldfarb, spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, said Wednesday that Peterson died of "a contact gunshot wound to the head." His death has been ruled a suicide, Goldfarb said.