Children Left at Staten Island CVS After Pennsylvania Murder Prompts Amber Alert; Suspect Dead: Police

A Pennsylvania man suspected of murdering his wife at their home outside Philadelphia and fleeing with his two young sons drove to a Staten Island CVS where a relative works and allegedly robbed the pharmacy at gunpoint before leaving the children at the store and apparently killing himself in his car, authorities say.

Authorities had issued an Amber Alert for the children, both younger than 10, after finding the man's wife dead in their home in Drexel Hill around 2:30 a.m. Thursday. Their mother was found stabbed and shot, and their father, 32-year-old Keith Belajonas, had been seen driving off with the children in a car. 

Police said the children were safe with authorities after the CVS robbery. They were taken to a hospital to be evaluated, but authorities say they are OK. 

Belajonas was found dead in his Nissan Pathfinder in Great Kills, about six miles from the CVS, a short time after the robbery, police said. Authorities say police responding to a 911 call about a possible sighting of Belajonas' Pathfinder spotted the vehicle as it passed them, and turned around to follow it. 

At that point, police say it appears Belajonas realized he was being followed and started veering in and out of traffic lanes. He turned onto a dead-end street on Katan Avenue and stopped the car. Police, acting cautiously under the assumption Belajonas was armed and dangerous, approached the vehicle and found him dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police never fired shots. 

Belajonas was found in the same Pathfinder he had left Pennsylvania in with his children after the slaying.

Police said that neighbors heard loud fighting, followed by a gunshot. Then, they said, neighbors saw the man dragging the boys from the home.

"One of the children states, 'Is mommy dead? Is mommy dead?' and out the door they go," Upper Darby Township Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood told NBC10 in Philadelphia.

When officers arrived, they found Belajonas’ wife with multiple stab wounds and a gunshot wound to the head.

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