NJ Father Kills His Two Young Children, Himself

A 38-year-old account executive for Cablevision took his two young children on the last ride of their lives Monday night before brutally shooting them with a rifle, and then taking his own life.

Ringwood Police Chief Bernard Lombardo at one point could barely speak as he described the gruesome murder scene in his rural New Jersey community roughly 40 miles from Manhattan.

"This is the type of event that rocks a community," Chief Lombardo said.

He then paused, clearly choked up, and finally added "and it shouldn't happen anywhere."

Ringwood police got a call from the children's mother, Zoey Mendoza-Birth, just before 8 p.m. Monday. She was worried about her two children after her husband Kurtis Birth, 38, had picked them up from daycare in nearby Pompton Lakes, law enforcement officials said.

Police went to Kurtis Birth's mother's house in Ringwood, and there found 5-year-old Jada lying on the ground in front of the house with a gunshot wound to her head.

Officers then saw her father's car nearby. When they looked inside, they saw Kurtis Birth dead, apparently after shooting himself with his rifle.

Inside the house, police found on the first floor 3 -year-old Jordan, also dead from a gunshot wound to his head.

Lombardo called this "a tragedy beyond comprehension" but said at this point police know of no motive that could have led to this murder-suicide.

He said there were no known restraining orders or marital issues, and that the family lived together in Pompton Lakes.

Follow Brian Thompson on Twitter @brian4NY

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