Fatal New London shootings were murder-suicide, police say

NEW LONDON - The shooting deaths of a New London couple on Tuesday were the result of a murder-suicide, the Attorney Generals Office announced on Wednesday.

According to safety officials, law enforcement officers responded to a home on Shaker Street in New London around 1:40 p.m. after receiving a call from the homeowner. Inside the home, police found the body of Peggy Brown, 73. The homeowner, Douglas Lyon, 78, was found dead outside the home.

Brown and Lyon were domestic partners who lived together at the Shaker Road home.

New Hampshire Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Mitchell Weinberg conducted autopsies on Douglas Lyon and Peggy Brown on Wednesday, finding that Brown's cause of death was three gunshot wounds, and her manner of death is homicide. Weinberg determined that Lyon's cause of death was a single gunshot wound, and his manner of death is suicide.

Although the investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident remains active and ongoing, based on evidence gathered to date it has been determined that Lyon shot and killed Brown, and then shot himself.