Published: July 26, 2008 11:56 pm            

MURDER-SUICIDE: Teen kills self, girlfriend

Victims were recent graduates of Wilson High School

RANSOMVILLE — The Niagara County Sheriff’s Department is investigating an apparent murder/suicide that took the lives of two recent Wilson High School graduates Saturday morning.

Deputies believe Shawn Wolf, 19, shot and killed his girlfriend,

18-year-old Kari Gorman, of Wilson, at his Balmer Road home just before 9 a.m.

Wolf then drove to a cemetery in Youngstown, where he took his own life.

Sheriff’s department dispatchers received a 911 call at 8:58 a.m. from Wolf’s mother, who said that a girl at the home had been shot.

Deputies arrived and found Gorman in Wolf’s bedroom, dead of an apparent gunshot wound to the head, Chief Deputy James Voutour said.

Wolf’s mother told deputies she’d heard an argument in Wolf’s room, but she had not heard a shot fired.

She said Wolf had gotten into his car and left the home, and that he may have been headed for Youngstown. Voutour said Wolf’s mother was cooperative with deputies, giving them a description of her son’s car.

At 9:12 a.m., a Youngstown police officer spotted the car at Oakland Cemetery on Lake Road about eight miles from the house.

Officers searched the area and found Wolf’s body about 70 yards from his car, inside the cemetery. He had died of an apparent gunshot wound to the head.

Voutour said it’s possible Wolf went to the cemetery because his father, who died in 1998, is buried there.

“There was some significance (to the location), but I think that’s probably personal,” Voutour said.

The shotguns found at the two scenes had reportedly belonged to Wolf’s father. The gun used to kill Gorman was left at the house, and another gun was reportedly found in the cemetery.

At Wolf’s home, deputies found a handwritten note indicating there were problems in the relationship, Chief Investigator Bruce Roth said.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it planned out or spontaneous, but based on the information we have on the note, there was some thought given to this incident,” Roth said. “(The note) indicated there was some strife in the relationship, and it was based on that.”

He said the note was “more than a couple lines,” but it was not long, and was not addressed to anyone specifically.

Family members and friends were aware of “issues” in the relationship, Roth said.

“(It was) a high school-type relationship. In that age group, (the problems were) probably typical of that,” Roth said. “Obviously, from the perspective of a 19-year-old, seeing things the way he saw things, it’s, just like with everything, so much bigger than life. And the steps that he took had tragic results ... . It’s just a very sad thing.”

Recent graduates

Gorman and Wolf were 2008 graduates of Wilson High School. They both worked at Johnston’s Restaurant on Academy Street in Ransomville.

Co-workers said Gorman came to work as usual early Saturday, but left before 9 a.m.

On Wolf’s MySpace page, friends expressed their grief by leaving comments and changing their display names to read, “RIP Shawn and Kari.”

“Why? just why?” read one comment on Wolf’s page.

Photos on the MySpace page show Wolf and Gorman smiling and posing with friends at their prom. One folder of photos on Wolf’s page, titled “My Guns,” includes pictures of a pro-carbine semi-automatic paintball gun.

Wilson Central School District officials learned of the incident on Saturday morning and quickly notified counselors.

Superintendent Michael Wendt said the school’s auditorium will be open from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. today as a gathering place for students, where counseling will be made available.

“We will keep both families in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time, and I would ask members and friends of the Wilson community to do the same,” he said.

Investigation

The sheriff’s department will continue the investigation in the coming days. Voutour said autopsies will be performed Monday at Erie County Medical Center.

Investigators will be doing ballistic tests on the weapons involved, he said.

The incident marks the second homicide of the year in Niagara County.

Voutour and Roth both described Saturday’s events as “tragic.”

“A mother lost her son, another set of parents lost their daughter, all very quickly, for what seems no good reason,” Voutour said. “And we have all of Wilson, again. Wilson’s been through quite a bit.”

“It’s lose-lose,” Roth said. “It’s an awful thing.”

Contact reporter April Amadon

at 439-9222, ext. 6251.

        

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