A Philadelphia family is dead after police say a grandmother shot and killed her teenage granddaughter and her own sister before turning the gun on herself.
The horrific shooting happened Monday afternoon, June 22, inside a home on South 10th Street in Philadelphia.
According to local reports citing investigators, 67-year-old Janice Picano fatally shot her 18-year-old granddaughter, Angelina Picano, and her 55-year-old sister, Denise Grottini, before taking her own life.
Police were called to the home after receiving a report of a person with a gun. When officers arrived, they found all three women suffering from gunshot wounds to the head, according to WPVI, NBC10 Philadelphia and FOX29.
First responders pronounced all three women dead at the scene.
Investigators said all three women lived in the same home.
Angelina Picano was a student at Furness High School, where classmates and staff are now grieving the sudden and violent loss of a young life.
The School District of Philadelphia released a statement after her death, saying the tragedy is especially painful because it involved a young person.
“Death is rarely something that is easy to accept, especially when it involves a young person, particularly during these times as our city grapples with heightened gun violence,” the district said.
Counselors were expected to be available at Furness High School on Wednesday and Thursday to support students and staff.
Authorities have not publicly released a motive, and it remains unclear what led to the deadly violence inside the home.
The investigation is ongoing as police continue trying to piece together what happened before the shooting.
For now, the tragedy has left a Philadelphia neighborhood shaken and a school community mourning an 18-year-old student whose life was cut short in the place where she should have been safe.
That is very uncommon in an Italian family.